Shadow Play
by Orcia
Summary: Danielle Phantom returns to Amity Park, and she's brought along a friend. A ghostly friend. But everything about this new ghost girl is strange, and things start heating up when a dark man with snakes on his back begins showing up wherever she is.
1. Prologue: A Friendship Born

Dreary grey clouds rolled over the countryside, casting a gloomy shadow over the small hills. Those on the ground would look up and grumble, but there was one who was glad for the dark cover the clouds gave her. It made it harder to be noticed.

Far above the ground, away from the grumbling and sour faces, a black a white blur soared through the clouds.

The blur was a girl, with snow white hair and bright green eyes. She wore a black jumpsuit with white streaks on the legs and on the top half of the suit. A black glove was on her right hand, and a white one on her left. White boots covered her feet, and a white emblem was on her chest.

The emblem was a familiar one. A blazing D with a P inside, the mark of the famed ghost boy Danny Phantom.

But this girl was obviously not him. No, while this girl did indeed have a similar suit, wore his emblem, and even looked like him, she was not Danny Phantom.

Not the one the world knew, anyway.

No, this girl was Dan_ielle_ Phantom, or Dani Phantom, with an i.

She had been cloned from the ghost boy by his arch enemy, Vlad Plasmius, or Vlad Masters as he was better known, had been trying to persuade Danny to become his son, or apprentice, and betray his own father in doing so. When Danny had refused multiple times, Vlad had started gathering information to clone the ghost boy.

Danielle had born as a result.

While Danielle was not mindless like the clones before her, she was unstable like them, and did whatever Vlad told her to, which had meant capturing Danny so Vlad could get the last piece of information he needed to create the perfect ghost boy clone.

Danny helped Danielle to see that once Vlad had this information, he was simply going to let her melt into a pool of ectoplasm like the other clones had. Thanks to Danny, Danielle was stabilized, and had been traveling around, seeing the world and fighting off ghosts when there was trouble, though she was more discreet about it then her older cousin.

Right now, however, she was a bit ticked off as she flew over the open countryside.

"Aw man. I knew I should've taken a right at Iceland," the girl grumbled, "Now where the heck am I?"

Dani looked around, and perked when she spotted a sign. She flew down, landing in front of it. Hands on hips, she squinted to read the worn out sign. Made of what looked like rotting wood, the sign had certainly seen better days. Or so she hoped. The blocky lettering looked like it had been scrawled in a hurry, and years of rain, snow, and possibly being run into by cars (if the recent tire tracks around the pole was any hint) had caused the paint to peel and chip away. Frankly, she was amazed the sign was around at all.

"Letsee, Ghost Hill five miles," Dani blinked and frowned in confusion. "Weird name for a town. Wonder if there's really any….Nah, probably not," she told herself, shrugging it off. "Probably just some paranoid people named the place."

With this conclusion, the ghost girl crouched and jumped into the air, flying in the direction the sign was pointing. Five miles was a snap and she got there in no time. To her surprise, the town was in the same condition as its sign. Buildings were old and weather beaten, in dire need of a paint job. Cracked windows, weeds sprouted up from the pavement, and dumpsters overflowing with trash sat in the dark alleys. A small, rugged town indeed. Dani wondered how it hadn't collapsed yet.

The people looked cold and unfriendly. They wore long trench coats and carried briefcases as they got into beat up looking cars and drove out of town. In fact, it was then Dani noticed there didn't seem to be any stores in the small town. It was all houses and apartment buildings.

"Weird," she said as she hovered over the town, arms folded across her chest. "And very depressing," she added. A puff of blue mist exited her mouth just then, making the girl tense and look around. Maybe this town had been aptly named. Just below her, Dani caught a glimpse of a familiar green blob slinking down an alley. A ghost.

"Well, least something good came from stopping here," she muttered, swooping down to follow the ghost slug. She hadn't had any ghost fighting action for a while. Sharply turning around the corner, Dani held up her fists, now glowing with ecto-energy.

She blinked. The ghost paid no attention to her and simply continued its slow crawl down the alley.

"Hey!" Dani shouted. The ghost slug looked back at her, but only for a moment before turning away again. It seemed harmless, and certainly not interested in even trying to hurt anyone. "Okaaay, I guess I can leave you," the ghost girl said slowly. The slug ignored her, so Dani took off into the air once more. Once she was air born, more blue mist came from her mouth, and Dani's mouth fell open as she realized the ghost slug wasn't the only ghost in this town.

She had been so absorb in the depressing state of the town and its unfriendly looking people that Dani hadn't noticed her ghost sense had been going off for a while. That was because the town was crawling with ghosts. Literally.

Ghosts of various shapes and sizes drifted about the town. Phasing in and out of buildings, gliding right through people, or crawling up the buildings. None of the humans seemed to notice them, and the ghosts ignored the people entirely. It probably would have looked somewhat peaceful if the town wasn't so run down, and the faces, ghost and human, looked a little friendlier.

"This, is so weird," Dani said, stunned. She'd never seen a town with this many ghosts, except for Amity Park, but even there they'd rarely had this many out and about at once. And none of the ghosts were attacking. That was even weirder.

Still, seeing as the ghosts showed no violence towards humans, and they all looked like they wouldn't cause much damage anyway, the ghost girl started once more to fly away, slower this time though. She looked down as she flew over the town, watching the ghosts and people. Then something caught her eye.

Amidst the grungy and dark colors of the town, she saw a flash of orange. Curious, Dani stopped and landed on a roof of a house to get a closer look. Across the street, hunched over and looking half starved, was a girl. She looked about Dani's age. The girl wore torn, faded blue jeans that were stained with mud, black sneakers, and a pale blue long sleeve shirt under a purple tee. Around the girls neck was a dark blue choker necklace with a black butterfly charm. She had long, pale red hair that reminded Dani of two things: her cousin Danny's older sister Jazz, but with lighter hair, and a peach. Lastly, the girl had periwinkle blue eyes that were locked firmly on the ground.

The girls appearance screamed abandon and lonely. Feeling sorry for her, Dani floated off the roof, and landed on the street. She closed her eyes, and a white ring appeared around her, splitting in two and covering her body in a white light. When the light faded, Dani shook her head to ruffle her hair, and smiled. In contrast to her ghost form, her human form had jet black hair, baby blue eyes, and she wore a blue hoodie sweatshirt, red jeans, and blue and white sneakers.

Dani stepped out into the street, glancing around, before darting across to the other side. The girl wasn't very fast, and she hadn't moved far. Dani caught up to her quickly. Putting on a friendly smile, Dani popped up beside the girl. "Hiya!"

The girl jumped back, her periwinkle blue eyes widening in fright.

"Names Danielle, but call me Dani. With an I," the black haired girl added out of habit. Sometimes having the same nickname as your famous cousin got confusing. "What's your name?"

The girl blinked and starred at Dani for several minutes before abruptly turning around and sprinting away.

"Hey, wait up!" Dani called after her, but the girl didn't slow down. In fact, she sped up. "Yeesh, she can really book it when she wants to," Dani muttered to herself as she tried to catch up to the girl.

The girl turned a corner and Dani leapt after her, attempting to tackle her, but all she tackled was the ground. Blinking dust from her eyes, Dani sat up, brushing dirt off her jeans. She looked around. The alley was a dead end, but the girl was gone. Dani huffed and placed her hands on her hips. "These people really need to learn how to treat tourists!"

Despite finding, and loosing, the only normal person in the town (normal looking, anyway), Dani decided to stay and try and find the girl again. She wasn't about to leave the poor kid in this run down town. She'd take the girl's whole family somewhere else. Somewhere where people were friendly, somewhere not crawling with ghosts, and somewhere cleaner. Definitely cleaner.

However, over the next few days, Dani saw no hide or ponytail of the girl. She even asked around, but the few people who actually spoke to her weren't much help. They said they hadn't seen the girl for a while.

While Dani's search for the girl was coming up empty, she did learn some interesting news about the town. Some crazy old lady that had been selling exotic "flowers" from Asia(they were really dried up weeds), had pulled Dani aside to offer her some "flowers". When Dani declined, the woman started babbling how the "flowers" warded off evil spirits. Dani asked if she could see the ghosts, to which the woman had said yes, and then started saying it was because of her "flowers" and "spells" (it sounded like random gibberish to Dani) helped the Soul Whisperer keep the evil spirits away.

Dani's interest was piqued. She asked about the Soul Whisperer, and the woman told her how, every once in a while, an evil spirit would come to the town and begin causing havoc. The spirits never stuck around long, though, because there would be a flash of light, and the spirit would be gone. The woman said it was the Soul Whisperer who chased off the spirits (with her "flowers" and "spells" helping, of course).

Dani began to wonder if the town had its own ghost super hero, like Amity Park had Danny Phantom (even though he technically was the world's ghost superhero, but most of his hero activities happened in AP). It had to be a true ghost, though, as Danny, herself, and Vlad were the only halfa's in the world. At least as far as she knew. It could be possible for there to be others, but Dani failed to see how when until recently, no one believed ghosts existed, let alone made ghost portals, so someone getting ghost powers the same way Danny and Vlad had didn't seem likely. Of course, someone getting powers the way she had was even more unlikely, seeing as how she had been cloned from Danny.

That meant a real ghost must be protecting the town, even if Dani doubted the attacking ghosts would do much damage, if they were anything like the ones that crawled around the city. Still, she was curious, and kept an eye out as she continued to look for the battered looking girl.

Dani got her chance after a week of being in the town. She was walking along when cackling laughter filled the air. Dani looked up to see a small, green, goblin ghost floating above the city. Luckily, it was the middle of the day, and the streets were empty except for Dani.

The goblin ghost let out another high pitched cackle and pointed its fingers at a dumpster. Tiny, mutated cans, banana peels, and other junk that now had limbs began crawling out of the dumpster and headed toward Dani.

Dani crossed her arms and quirked a brow, unimpressed. "Really? The things didn't even get bigger," she said, kicking at one of the mutant tin cans. It fell over and its limbs flailed like a helpless turtle. Dani shook her head.

The goblin didn't seem to notice Dani's lack of terror at his creations. He raised his arm over his head, and a rubber chicken with no head appeared in his fist.

Dani burst out laughing. "Dude, that's pathetic! The Box Ghost is a bigger threat then you!"

The goblin shrieked and dove towards Dani, the headless rubber chicken raised like a limp sword over his head. Dani's eyes flashed green as she grinned and crouched. Just as she was about to go ghost, a black and yellow blur shot in front of her, ramming into the ghost goblin and knocking him all the way across town. Dani blinked in shock and looked around for the blur, but it had taken off after the goblin. Dani jumped into the air, a white ring appeared around her, and her human half swapped for her ghost half. Dani took off after the goblin, turning herself invisible as she flew. That way she'd be able to watch without being a distraction, but be there to help if it was needed.

She caught up to the goblin quickly, but saw no sign of the yellow blur. Then, it came out of nowhere, shooting past her and once more ramming into the goblin. The goblin screeched and swung its rubber chicken around, but a blast of white energy shot the useless rubber fowl from the goblin's hands.

Dani looked over where the blast had come from, and gasped.

A girl her age floated a few feet from the goblin, arms crossed and looking rather annoyed. The girl's sleek black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, with a pale gold streak running down the middle of her head to the tip of her ponytail. She wore a black t-shirt with yellow flame like markings on the sleeves and a yellow curve in the center. Black gloves with bright yellow stars in the center covered her hands, a pale yellow belt, and black pants with gold flames at the waist, while yellow flames danced from the bottom of the pants to just below her knees. Black boots and a gold choker necklace with a white butterfly charm completed the girl's outfit.

The girl's eyes glowed amber as she glared at the goblin. The goblin screeched and a banana peel appeared in his hand. He flung it at the girl, who merely went intangible as the peel passed right through her. The girl then raised her hands, and blasts of white light shot towards the goblin, hitting him full in the face and sending him spiraling to the ground. Just as the goblin was about to hit the ground, he made a sharp turn and flew back up, facing the girl with a nervous look in his eyes. The girl raised her fist, which glowed white, and the goblin screamed and flew off in the other direction. He disappeared from sight.

Dani chose that moment to become visible. "Cool! You're pretty good at this! A little overkill, considering that guy was a wimp, but you were awesome!"

The girl jerked at seeing Dani, looking startled and, frightened?

"Oh, sorry. I'm Dani Phantom, with an I," she held out her hand and smiled. "You're Soul Whisperer, right?"

The girl blinked slowly and looked at Dani's hand for a minute. Then Dani experienced a déjà vu moment. The girl turned and flew off very quickly.

"Man, what's with this town!" Dani exclaimed as she took off after the other ghost girl.

The girl was faster than Dani, and the white haired ghost girl had trouble catching up. When she did, she flew towards a building, somersaulting and landing on the side with her feet, then pushed off like a rocket towards the other girl. Her plan worked, and the two ghost girls collided, sending them both sprawling to the ground.

Dani got up and brushed dirt off her shoulder, then looked over at the other girl. The girl was on her knees and holding her head with one hand, looking dizzy and stunned at what just happened. Then she saw Dani and her amber eyes flew open and she scooted backwards, away from the white haired girl.

Dani smiled gently. "I'm sorry about that, but why did you run? I don't want to fight you."

The girl eyed Dani warily, but seemed to relax a little. So Dani continued. "You're Soul Whisperer? The ghost protector here?"

The girl nodded.

"Cool. Like I said, I'm Dani Phantom, but with an I. Danny Phantom with a y is my cousin, you've probably heard of him."

Soul frowned a little, like she was thinking, then shook her head.

Dani starred at her in disbelief. "Seriously? You've never heard of Danny Phantom? THE Danny Phantom?"

Soul shook her head again.

"But, he just saved the world a few months ago!" Dani exclaimed. "Doesn't this town get the news, or the paper? Didn't you notice the giant green chunk of glowing rock that passed through the earth? Every ghost in the ghost zone knows him to! How can you not know who he is?"

Soul shrugged and made a large circle in the air in front of her, then jabbed the middle with her finger.

Dani blinked. "Huh?"

Soul bit her lip and beckoned her closer. Dani did so, and looked down as the girl wrote something in the dirt with her finger. Dani tilted her head and read it.

**This town is in the middle of nowhere, we rarely know what's going on anywhere else. Even the people who work in the cities, they never share what's going on. This town is news deprived and never notices anything. The earth could explode and they wouldn't notice.**

Dani frowned. "Wow, poor you. But, why didn't you just say that?" she asked, and Soul wrote something else in the dirt. Dani read it again.

**I cannot speak. I am mute. **

"Oh…" A rather awkward silence hovered between the two girls for a minute, then Dani cleared her throat. "So, how'd you end up here?"

Soul hesitated for a minute, before slowly writing in the dirt.

**I'm not sure. I woke up and was floating in this, strange green place with purple doors floating everywhere. I opened them until I found one that led me here. **

"That was the ghost zone," Dani explained. "It's where ghosts live. Well, most ghosts, anyway. It has portals that lead to other realms in the zone, and sometimes earth."

Soul wrote in the dirt again. This time, it was a question for Dani.

**Why are you here? **

"Oh, just flying over and saw the ghosts. Thought I'd look around," Dani said with a shrug. "Uh, what?" she asked, seeing Soul look at her with a puzzled expression. Dani looked over her shoulder, then back at her. "Something wrong?"

Soul wrote in the dirt and Dani leaned forward to read it.

**You seem different from the other ghosts. **

Dani blinked and rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "Heheh, uh, well, that's, ah," she hesitated, and looked at the girl warily, thinking. Soul didn't flinch, but looked back calmly. The girl seemed okay, not evil or spy like. Plus, she could already tell something was different. How, Dani had no idea, but still. Lying now would just make her more suspicious. Sighing deeply, Dani looked Soul firmly in the eye. "You can't tell anyone, what I'm going to show you, kapeesh?"

Soul nodded solemnly. Dani sat back on her heels and the white ring appeared around her, passing over her body, reverting her back to her human form. Soul blinked and starred as Dani held out her arms, displaying herself. "This, is why I seem different from other ghosts. I'm only half ghost."

Soul continued to stare, but her expression changed from startled to confused. Dani opened her mouth to explain more, when there was a flash and a ring of white light appeared around Soul's middle, splitting over her and concealing her body in a white light.

Dani gasped and starred in blank shock. Instead of Soul Whisperer, the battered looking girl from earlier that week sat in front of her. The two girls starred at each other in silence for several minutes before Dani spoke. "How, what…you're a halfa?"

Soul shook her head and wrote in the dirt.

**What's a halfa?**

"I'm a halfa. Half ghost, half human. That whole light transformation thing I just did, that was me going from ghost mode to human." Dani explained. "You just did it to."

Soul frowned; looking puzzled, and shook her head.

**No I didn't. I'm a ghost. I died. **

Dani blinked. "Then what was with the light and the whole costume change just now?"

Soul shrugged.

**I don't know. I woke up in the, ghost zone place, with that black outfit, and when I got out, I looked normal again. I've been able to switch back and forth since.**

Dani quirked a brow and crossed her arms, frowning in thought. "Okay, well, that was your transformation. When the light surrounds you, you go from human to ghost, or vice versa."

Soul shook her head, starting to look a bit frustrated.

**No. I am a ghost. I'm not human anymore, I died. I don't have a human side to transform to.**

Dani huffed. "Yes, you do. You're in your human form right now. I'll show you."

Standing up, Dani jumped up and down a few times. "See? I can't fly when I'm human, but I can when I'm in ghost form."

Rolling her eyes, Soul stood up. Dani's jaw went slack as the girl jumped into the air, but didn't come down. Instead, she floated a few feet above her, arms crossed and giving her a pointed look that said, "believe me now?"

Dani shook her head to get over her surprise. "Uh, okay. That's different, but, I can use some of my other ghost powers in human form, so you probably can to," she said slowly, making her point by holding up a glowing green fist.

Soul drifted back down, an annoyed frown on her face.

"Look, maybe you thought you died, but you only, uh, half, died," Dani said awkwardly, thinking of no other way to put it. "You're a halfa, like me. But that doesn't mean you died," she added gently.

Soul stubbornly shook her head, kneeling down to write in the dirt again.

**I don't care if you think I'm a halfa or not. I. Died. I. Am. A. Ghost. I know I am. I don't need to eat as much and can go longer without food then humans can. I got shot at by a cop and it didn't hurt, my blood is green and glows, plus what you saw me do! I'm dead! I'm a ghost!**

When Dani didn't respond to that, Soul grabbed her hand and placed it on her neck. Dani frowned in confusion as the girl held her hand where a pulse should have been.

Wait a minute.

Dani blinked and starred, moving her hand a little, trying to find a pulse. The girl didn't have one. Soul quirked a brow and looked smug as Dani pulled her hand away. "Okaaay, I, have nothing to say to that," she said, dumbfounded. "But, you don't look like a ghost. I mean, you're not green or blue or look mutated. You're not even pale! Your skin's tanner then mine," she added, holding her hand next to Soul's. "Seriously, this is weird. You can pass as a human, but you're…dead. That's, really freaky," Dani told her.

Soul shrugged.

**I know. How confusing do you think this is for me? One minute I'm alive and breathing, the next thing I know I'm dead and can do freaky things.**

"Well, you certainly have control over them. That was pretty cool how fast you caught the goblin thing," Dani told her, and Soul smiled shyly.

Dani grinned and held out her hand. "Like I said, I'm Danielle, but you can call me Dani."

Instead of running away like the last two times, Soul hesitantly took the hand, and smiled as she shook it.

**I go by Shyann when I look like this.**

"Well, Shy, what do you say I give you some ghost hunting lessons?"

Shyann's eyes lit up and Dani beamed.

This was looking to be the start of a beautiful friendship.

_4 years later_

The small room was dark. The only light came from a small computer on a table in the center of the room. The screen cast a dim, blue light around the cold, steel room. One would think it was strange to leave a computer in an empty room, but then again, one would find what was on the computer screen even stranger. A series of blue numbers and letters dotted the screen in a seemingly random order. However, if watched the screen for a few minutes, they would see more numbers and letters appearing on the screen, like someone was typing them. But there was no keyboard. No mouse. No person in the room to type these things.

Light suddenly poured into the room. A man stepped into the room, shutting a door that would have been missed if you did not know where it was. The man was tall, with shaggy black hair that was tied back in a punk rock ponytail fashion. His bangs skimmed the top of his sunglasses, concealing his eyes from the world. He wore black jeans, boots, and a jacket. White streaks ran up the arms of the jacket, slipping over his broad shoulders and wrapping around each other on his back. Each end looked like a snake's head; their mouths open and showing gleaming fangs, along with bright red eyes that seemed to burn right through you.

The man walked past the computer, not even giving it a passing glance. He went to the wall behind the computer, placing his hand in the center of the steel wall. Anyone watching would have surprised to see the area around his hand flash for a split second, and then disappeared, leaving a door sized hole in the wall. The man calmly stepped inside, and the wall reappeared behind him as he walked down the dark hallway.

At the end of the hall, he reached another door, this one made of some strange, black metal with a silver handle. He grabbed the handle and pulled, stepping inside and letting it shut behind him.

The room he had entered was drastically different from the previous one. Light seemed to explode from every possible source. Screens of various sizes covered the walls, large metallic devices that looked like scanners of some kind blinked and flashed, and the overhead lights were huge, taking up entire ceiling panels. It was no wonder the guy wore sunglasses.

Men in lab coats were dotted around the room. Some were standing around metal tables with various tools and smaller devices; others drifted around with clipboards, jotting down things the others told them, or watching the machines and writing results.

The men with sunglasses walked past them, neither party giving the other a second glance. He walked to a glass door and went inside. This room was slightly smaller, but also filled with metal scanners and devices. A large glass window cut across part of the room, blocking another, smaller room below. The smaller room was empty, except for one thing. A large, green, monstrous looking bird floated in the middle of the room, glaring up at the glass window. Its eyes glowed red, its wings appeared to be on fire, and razor sharp talons stuck out from its feet. The bird opened its beak in an ear splitting screech that never reached the humans ears. They had foreseen this and the room the bird was in was soundproof. And ghost proof.

The sunglasses man walked over to the window and watched as the ghost bird flapped its wings and rammed the wall of its prison, trying to phase through, and failing.

One of the lab coat men stood in front of a machine. Reaching up, he grabbed a black lever and pulled it down. Immediately, the ghost bird froze mid-ram and began screeching in pain. It fell to the floor, withering and twitching in pain. Another lab coat looked down from the window and jotted something on a clipboard, then nodded at his companion, who turned a knob beside the lever. The ghost bird jerked around violently for several minutes before it began to ooze green blood. At least, a first glance made one think it was bleeding. But it wasn't.

It was melting.

The ghost bird's feet melted into a pool, and with a final, pain wrenched cry, the bird dissolved into a large green puddle.

"Such a mess, but necessary for our work."

Sunglasses looked over at the man who had come up silently beside him. The man wore a simple black suit, with leather shoes and a gold clip pinned on his collar. Short, dark red hair was cut close to the neck in an almost military like fashion. Some grey hairs could be seen on the sides, showing the man's age. Green eyes, so dark they almost looked black, glanced at Sunglasses with a sly smirk.

"You are highly recommended for what I have in mind, Mr. Rinkhals," the man continued, and the sunglasses man, Rinkhals, merely quirked a brow at him. "Forgive me, where are my manners. I am Elliot Haast, head of Erebos Laboratories. I sent for you because I have a small job for you." He beckoned with his hand for Rinkhals to follow, and the two men exited the room through a small door at the back of the room, where it was conveniently hidden by the machines.

The door led to the first normal looking room Rinkhals had set foot in since coming here. It was a small, dark office, with a set of windows behind the desk. The blinds were closed, casting slits of eerie yellow light across the room. Haast motioned for Rinkhals to sit in the chair facing the desk. Rinkhals did so, crossing his arms and waiting for the older man to speak. Haast stood, his arms clasped behind him as he looked out the blind covered window.

After several minutes, Haast spoke. "I understand you are a bounty hunter, and you have experience with, the paranormal. Is that correct?"

Rinkhals nodded.

"You see, Mr. Rinkhals, we were conducting an important experiment a few years ago when our system crashed. By the time we got our system working correctly again, the experiment was gone. We have been searching for it for the past couple of years, but it has eluded us. Until recently, that is."

Rinkhals arched a brow, but remained silent as Haast continued. "Our scientists have located our experiment, but there is a problem. It hasn't stayed in one place long enough for us to fetch it. That is where you come in," he said. As he spoke, he pulled a piece of square paper from his suit pocket. Haast held out the paper, and Rinkhals took it. The paper was a photo, of a young girl, probably no older than eight or nine years. "You telling me your men can't catch a little girl?" Rinkhals asked. His voice was low and rough, the skepticism obvious in his tone.

Haast frowned slightly. "That photo is rather old, but it is the only one we have. She is more than likely fourteen or fifteen by now. Also," he pulled open a drawer in his desk and pulled out two small, silver devices. One was small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand, and it had a screen which was currently black. The other was slightly larger, shaped more like a tv remote, with a red button in the center, and a small, jagged, rod like stick attached to the front. "She is able to change her appearance, but this should help you track her. Her DNA is very, specific, and this device will lead you to her, " Haast explained, handing Rankhals the screen device. "This one," he gave him the other one, "Will help you observe her."

Rankhals arched a brow. "You want me to observe her, or catch her?" he asked bluntly.

"Mm, a bit of both, actually. We want you to observe her first for a bit, so we can determine how much she's changed. Yes, my dear man, we have the technology that allows us to observe without being there ourselves," he added when Rankhals opened his mouth. Rankhals shut it and waited for him to finish. "Simply point the rod at her, and press the button. The rest will be taken care of."

Rinkhals stood, taking the devices, slipping them and the photo into his pocket. "Anything else?" he asked, starting towards the door.

"Yes. One, we need her alive," there was an odd glint in the man's eye when he said the word "alive", but Rankhals paid no attention to it. "And two, our last trace of her showed her somewhere in Wisconsin, heading southwest. We believe she may be going to Amity Park."

Rankhals quirked a brow, but shrugged and left, shutting the door behind him. Haast turned back to the window. The yellow light cast shadows across his face, and his dark eyes gleamed as his lips curled into a cruel smile. "Amity Park," he murmured softly, "What a fitting place for a test run."

_Author's Notes:__ Kay, this is the first chapter to my DP fanfic. The first part takes part a few months after PP, and shows the first meeting of Danielle Fenton/Phantom and my DP OC Shyann Haynes/Soul Whisperer. _

_You'll learn more about Shy/Soul within the next few chapters, so don't worry, some questions about her will be answered then. Any other questions about her, well, you'll have to wait and see._

_Also, since it's never really specified what state Amity Park is in, but seeing as how the Fentons drove to Wisconsin from it, I kinda left it open by just saying it's southwest of Wisconsin._

_And you guys probably figured this out already, but anything in bold will mean it was written down, not spoken._

_Oh, and Ghost Hills is in Ohio, if anyone was wondering._


	2. Phantom Meets Soul

It was a glorious fall day. The tree leaves were a mixture of burnt gold, flaming orange and brilliant red. Fluffy white clouds were scattered here and there across the perfectly blue sky. A gentle breeze blew through the evergreen grass.

The weather seemed to reflect the people's moods. People smiled and waved as they walked down the street, or shouted greetings to their neighbors as they got into their cars. Some woman chatted over their back fence as their children played in the yard, discussing getting their families together for a barbecue that night.

A man laughed at a joke his friend had made as he unlocked the door to his car. He commented on the great weather and both men looked up at the sky, shielding their faces from the sun. One of the men blinked, a puzzled look crossing his face as he squinted. He pointed a cloud out to the other man, who shrugged. Shaking it off, the two men said goodbyes and climbed into their respective cars, saying they'd see each other that night for the game.

If either man had kept looking at the clouds, they would have seen two faint shadowed figures.

Two girls, both looking to be about fifteen, appeared in and out of the clouds, only being visible for a few seconds before they disappeared again.

One of them wore a black and white jumpsuit. Her hair was pure white, and glistened when the sun caught it. She had dazzling green eyes that sparkled with playful mischief.

The other girl wore a similar jumpsuit, though slightly different style wise. It was black and yellow, and she had sleek black hair with a golden streak in it. Her amber eyes shone with friendly warmth.

"Yo Soul, watch this one!" the white haired girl shouted. She crouched in the air and thrust herself up into a cloud, vanishing in the white formation. A few seconds later, she burst out the side of the cloud, launching herself through two more clouds while spinning like a drill before coming to a screeching halt. Her now soaking wet bangs dripped in front of her eyes and she shook her head, grinning back at the other girl.

Soul giggled behind her hand as she flew over to Danielle. The girl halfa shook herself, her wet ponytail slapping her in the face. Soul crossed her arms and shook her head in amusement.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm soaked now," Danielle said, wringing her ponytail out. "But c'mon, just flying in a straight line is boring. This makes it more fun!"

Soul rolled her eyes and smiled as she held two fingers in a V sign.

She jumped into the air, doing a backflip before going into a nosedive into a cloud below them. Danielle waited and watched as the girl made a sharp turn, making her boots brush against the cloud as she flew back up. She did a series of loops and spins, going through a few clouds, before coming to a perfect stop in front of Danielle.

Danielle laughed as Soul flipped her dripping black bangs out of her face.

"You're wetter than I am!" Danielle told her, and Soul grinned as she shook herself like a dog, showering both girls in water droplets.

"Down girl," Danielle giggled, holding her hands in front of her face.

Soul playful took a swing at her, and Danielle laughed as she ducked and flew around. Soul darted after her and soon the two girls were racing each other through the clouds, getting themselves thoroughly drenched.

While Danielle kept the lead for a little bit, she had known it wouldn't last very long. Soul was faster than she had ever been able to manage, and it didn't take long for the black haired girl to overtake her and seize the lead.

The girls continued this race as they flew over rolling hills and the colorful autumn trees. Once or twice, Danielle would have to call out to Soul to steer her in the right direction when the other girl would make a wrong turn. Danielle knew where she was going; Soul had never been there before.

Amity Park. The most haunted town in all of America, possibly the world. Home of the one and only Danny Phantom.

It had been several years since Danielle had seen her cousin. She'd seen the world, she'd done some ghost fighting, but she missed him. So, after talking about it with Soul, the two girls had set out to Amity Park to see the famous ghost hero.

Soul at first had been a bit reluctant to go; especially after Danielle told her Danny's parents were ghost hunters. Soul had nearly fainted when that tidbit was mentioned.

Danielle didn't blame her for being nervous. She had every reason to be.

Soul wasn't a halfa like she was. She was a ghost. One hundred percent ghost. One hundred percent ectoplasmic energy that ghost hunters loved to shoot at, capture, and dissect or destroy.

Yeah, Soul had _plenty_ of reason to almost pass out at that news.

But Danielle wanted her to come. Not only did she want her to meet Danny (who, until she met Danielle, Soul hadn't even known existed), but ever since the two girls had met in Ghost Hills, they'd traveled together. They were practically sisters, and even introduced themselves as such when they were traveling (if they were asked, that is).

After some persuading, and assuring Soul that neither Danielle nor Danny would let Danny's parents do anything to her, Soul agreed to come along.

Now they were almost there, and Danielle was almost giddy with excitement.

"Soul, over here!" Danielle shouted.

Soul had slowed a little and had been lagging behind as they had neared the town. Now she flew up so the two girls were side by side. She cocked her head at the white haired ghost girl.

Danielle pointed down to a small gas station. "Let's transform here and walk into the city. Don't want anyone assuming we're evil ghosts here to destroy them. And I want to be visible when we find Danny," she added.

Soul nodded eagerly. Danielle could tell the idea of appearing as human as possible around ghost hunters was very appealing to her.

The two ghost girls floated down, landing beside the dumpster at the back of the building. Once the girl's feet touched down, a ring of light appeared around each girl. The rings slid over their bodies and vanished.

Danielle, being half ghost, reverted back to her human form. Her white hair turned jet black, green eyes turned to baby blue, and her jumpsuit was replaced by a pair of red jeans, a blue sweatshirt, and blue sneakers.

While Soul was a full ghost, she was able to change her appearance between two. Soul Whisperer was the one she used when she was ghost fighting (her hero form, Danielle called it). When she wanted to walk around, Soul switched to being Shyann. Shy had peach colored hair, periwinkle eyes, and wore a jean jacket over a pale lavender tee shirt, jeans, a red belt, and tan boots. One thing she kept when she changed was her choker necklace with a butterfly charm. It just changed color. When she was Soul, it was gold with a white butterfly. When she was Shy, it was dark blue with a black butterfly.

Danielle poked her head around the corner. No one was around, which meant they hadn't been seen yet. She beckoned to Shy, and the two walked around front.

Danielle grinned as she saw Amity Park not too far away. "Race ya!" she challenged, taking off and nearly sprinting. Shy raced after her.

Shy was a faster flyer, but Danielle was the faster runner. Still, Shy managed to keep up with her.

As the two girls entered the town, they slowed to a walk. Danielle looked around and gave a low whistle. Even from here, she could tell the town had grown since she'd last been here. New buildings were up, and she saw signs for businesses that hadn't been in the town previously.

Guess people wanted to live in a haunted town. Go figure.

Shy stuck close to Danielle as the two walked down the street. Danielle gave her a reassuring smile.

Shy was exactly like her name suggested: shy.

Big crowds tended to make her nervous, and she never really liked attention, mostly out of fear of being caught by ghost hunters. Even in the small, run down town of Ghost Hills, she'd kept a low profile as the good ghost that kept the other ghosts from scaring the town's people. It'd really been unnecessary, seeing as how no one in Ghost Hills had ever noticed, aside from a crazy old lady that sold weeds as flowers. The ghosts that did try and scare the town's people were more of an annoyance then a threat.

It was because of this that Danielle had managed to convince Shy to leave Ghost Hills and travel with her instead.

Danielle looked around as they walked; keeping an eye for the structure she was looking for.

Shy tugged on her arm and pointed at a street sign ahead. Danielle looked at it and shook her head. "I don't remember what street it's on. I was there once, and I flew," she said.

Shy shook her head and frowned slightly.

Danielle knew the look. "Yeah, yeah. My directions suck," she grumbled.

Shy nodded.

Shy was mute, so she relied on facial expressions and hand gestures to speak. It had taken a little while, but the two girls had worked out their own signals to communicate. She also had a small notepad in her pocket with a pen if it was needed.

After they had walked several streets with no luck, Danielle decided to ask for directions. Luckily, the Fenton's had gained a reputation as the world's leading ghost experts, so people knew who they were when she asked. That and they had a giant metal structure on top of their house. It was like a landmark.

The first person Danielle asked pointed the girls in the right direction, and they thanked him and started that way. It didn't take long for Danielle to recognize the metal formation. Shy's jaw dropped at the sight of it.

Danielle chuckled. "Told ya it'd be easy to find."

Shy quirked a brow at her.

"Hey, I knew _what_ I was looking for. I just didn't know how to _get there_ from the ground," Danielle said defensively.

The girls walked up the steps and knocked. No one came to the door.

Danielle frowned and knocked again. Still nothing. "It's Saturday, he can't be in school."

Shy shrugged.

"He might be out patrolling," Danielle mused, "and his parents could be out. His sisters probably at collage. Yeah, she's old enough I think," she turned to Shy and shrugged. "Well, we can either wait, or go see if we can find him."

Shy held up two fingers, signaling she voted the second option.

Danielle grinned and jumped over the side of the stairs. Shy followed. There was a flash of light, and Danielle Phantom and Soul Whisperer flew off into the air.

"If he's just patrolling, we should be able to find him pretty quickly," Danielle called. "Keep a look out for his friends to! I told you what they look like," she added.

Soul nodded.

As the girls flew, Danielle saw just how much the small town had grown the past few years. Bigger buildings, more stores, and more houses. There even seemed to be more people on the streets then last time she'd been here.

"Good grief, you'd think 'most haunted town in America' would scare people off, not reel them in," she muttered in amazement.

The girls circled around the town twice. No sign of the ghost boy. They stopped on the other side of the town.

Danielle crossed her arms and huffed. "I know he can disappear, but really? All his enemies can find him with a snap, but I, his _clone_, can't find him at all? Where's the logic in that?"

Soul didn't seem to be listening. The black haired girl suddenly swooped down.

Confused, Danielle followed. "What is it?" she asked.

Soul stopped and pointed at a small store. The store's glass was shattered and smoke was coming out the broken windows. People had gathered across the street and were watching intently.

"Okay, I know I said he tends to cause damage wherever he goes, but just because there's smoke, and a crowd, doesn't mean it's him."

_BANG! _

One of the store's sides exploded, sending debris and dust into the street and leaving a large, gaping hole in the store's wall.

"….Explosions, on the other hand. Yup, that's him. Let's go!"

* * *

Of all the days he could have left that stupid thermos at home, today _had_ to be the day he actually _needed_ it.

"I hate irony," Danny growled, his hand glowing green as it charged another ghost ray.

The pile of rubble he had just created moved, and a large silver and black form burst from it, sending the debris flying in all directions. Danny went intangible as several pieces flew through him and into the shelves behind him.

"I don't have time for this, Skulker!" he shouted angrily, firing two more blasts of energy at the ghost robot. "Can we reschedule, for say, never?"

"Ha! Not today, ghost boy!" Skulker replied. A laser appeared from his shoulder and a purple beam shot at Danny, hitting him square in the chest and knocking him back into the shelves, smashing the wooden slabs.

Danny burst from the pile, his eyes glowing icy blue as he shot blue energy beams, hitting the laser and freezing it instantly. He flung a ball of the blue energy at his opponent, but Skulker countered with a laser that sprung from his wrist and canceled out his ice ray.

"Nice upgrades," Danny said sarcastically. He was getting more and more annoyed with Skulker's new weapons. The hunter had gotten several new guns that fired heat blasts, which made it harder for Danny to use his ice powers on him. Which meant Danny couldn't just freeze him and leave like he normally did.

Nope, he had to stick around and actually fight him.

And he was thoroughly ticked about it. He was supposed to be at the airport to pick up Jazz a half hour ago. She had a week off from collage and was coming home to visit. His parents, Sam, and Tucker were back at the house preparing a small welcoming party for her. Danny had insisted he'd go pick up Jazz alone, assuming he wouldn't run into any trouble.

He should have known better.

"Look, I really, need to get, going, so can we wrap this up already?" Danny growled, puncturing each word with a blast of green energy.

Skulker smirked and a purple shield appeared in front of him, bouncing the ghost rays back, forcing Danny to doge his own ghost rays.

Skulker's arm shot forward, seizing Danny by the throat. Danny screamed as jolts of electricity shot through him. His body went limp and his vision blurred as he looked at Skulker with half closed eyes.

Skulker threw back his head and laughed in triumph. "You are mine, ghost boy! From this day forth, your pelt shall lay at my bed!"

"Okay, dude. Do I even need to say how gross that sounds?"

The new voice made Danny force his eyes open in surprise. He and Skulker looked up to see a white haired girl floating above them, her arms crossed and giving Skulker a look of disgust.

Danny blinked. "Danielle?" he managed to choke out.

"I mean, really? You want to wake up every morning and see _that_," she gestured towards Danny's face, "at the end of your bed? Ew."

Skulker snarled. "Who are you?" he demanded.

Danielle feigned surprise. "What? Danny hasn't told you about me? I'm hurt," she said as she drifted lower so she was eye level with the hunter. She looked completely calm, almost as if the whole situation bored her. "Funny, he's told me all about you."

Skulker arched a brow.

"You're the ghost zone's greatest hunter, you want Danny because he's one of a kind, yet you've been employed by Vlad, who is also a halfa but you've never tried to hunt him, which I don't get," she frowned slightly then waved her hand to brush it aside and continued, "and you're apparently poorly informed on the whole 'one of a kind' subject, seeing as you think he and Vlad are the only two."

Skulker blinked and looked like someone had just dropped a sack of bricks on his head.

"Oh yes, you see, I'm his cousin. And I'm a halfa too," she said sweetly.

"Then I shall have both your pelts!" Skulker growled, aiming his wrist laser at the female halfa.

Danny's eyes widened and he tried to reach for Skulker's arm to redirect it, but Skulker held him away.

"Dani, go!" Danny shouted as the laser blasted a purple beam towards her.

Danielle just grinned and held her hand in front of her. A second later, a green shield appeared and bounced the laser back.

Skulker swooped to avoid it, taking Danny with him as he dove for the ground. Danny struggled within his grasp, but the shock had weakened him and Skulker's grip was too tight.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a black and yellow blur shot in front of the hunter. Taken by surprise, Skulker swerved to avoid it. The blur circled around and grabbed Danny's arm. Danny felt the familiar feeling of intangibility as he slid through Skulker's arm and away from him.

Skulker, realizing his catch was gone, whipped around and aimed at Danny, but was rammed aside as Danielle bombarded him with ghost rays, forcing him to put up a shield.

Shaking his head at what just happened; Danny realized something was carrying him. He looked up and blinked at the black haired girl carrying him. She smiled at him.

"Uh, hi?" he said.

The girl didn't reply, but dropped him off on the roof of the building next door. She held up her hand in a "stay" signal, then jumped off the building and sped toward where Danielle was fighting Skulker.

Skulker's shield flickered as Danielle continued to fire blast after blast at it. She swung her foot around and sent a ghost ray that sliced against the shield like a knife. Skulker snarled and rocketed into the air, only to be smashed back down by a ball of white energy.

The hunter smashed into the concrete, making a small crater. His eyes narrowed, then widened as he saw the black hair girl floating beside the female halfa.

"There are four of you?" he exclaimed.

Danielle smirked. "I _said_ you were misinformed on the whole 'one of a kind' thing, didn't I?" She turned to the other girl and held out a hand. "Soul, would you do the honors?"

Soul grinned deviously as she pointed her hands at two lampposts. The posts began to glow white, then were jerked off the ground like they were being lifted by invisible ropes.

Soul clenched her hands into fists and swung them towards Skulker. The posts followed, flying towards the ghost robot. Completely shocked, Skulker only starred as the posts flew towards him at rapid speed. They bent and twisted as if they were steel putty, binding Skulker's arms to his side.

Soul placed her hands on her hips and looked at Danielle for approval. Danielle frowned thoughtfully. "Needs one more thing."

Soul looked around and pointed her hand towards a trash bin. The bin flew off the ground, hovered over Skulker, then turned upside down and slammed onto his head, covering him with trash.

Danielle gave a satisfied nod. "Much better. That should hold him until we're outta here. He'll leave once he sees Danny's gone."

Soul giggled.

Danny, who had been watching the entire thing from the roof, starred open mouthed at the two girls as they landed in front of him. "When...how…who…" he asked stupidly.

Danielle laughed. "Nice to see you to, cuz," she said with a grin.

Danny blinked and shook his head, catching sight of the clock hanging on above the store across the street. "Oh man! Jazz!" he cried, jumping to his feet and jumping off the roof. He had just got over the ledge when he looked back and remembered Danielle and Soul.

He promptly fell to the sidewalk with a splat.

"He's having one of those days," Danielle remarked as she and Soul floated down and landed neatly beside her now rather flattened cousin.

Danny groaned as he got up, each girl taking a arm to help him. Danny blinked and looked at Soul. He opened his mouth, than shook his head. "Uh, you two better come with me," he cast a quick look around, "but first."

A ring of white appeared around his middle and split in two, covering his body and replacing Phantom with black haired, blue eyed Fenton.

Danny looked over and his eyes widened.

Danielle now stood beside a girl with peach colored hair and periwinkle blue eyes.

"We'll explain later, Danny," Danielle said quickly before he could open his mouth.

Shooting the other girl a curious glance, Danny nodded and head to a blue truck parked in the middle of the street. Skulker had jumped him there, but thankfully, the people behind him had stopped or swerved off so there had been no pile up.

The truck was old, it had once belonged to Danny's Aunt Alicia, but Danny had cleaned it regularly, so it looked relatively new. Granted it only held five people tops, but it'd been his since he had gotten his license at sixteen.

Danny jumped in the driver's seat while the two girls hopped in the back. The truck started and Danny waited until they were clear of the town before looking in the review at his younger cousin and her friend. "Not that I'm not happy to see you Danielle, but what are you doing back in Amity Park? I thought you had places to see."

Danielle shrugged as she crossed her arms on the back of the front seat. "I did, and I missed you, so we came back," she said, nodding at the girl beside her.

"And who are you?" Danny asked, looking at the girl's periwinkle blue eyes.

The girl looked at Danielle, who answered. "We'll explain when we get back to your place. It'll be easier if we only have to do it once. Her name's Shyann when she's like this."

Danny quirked a brow at the "like this" part, but didn't ask about it. "Is there any reason you're not talking?" he asked instead.

"She's mute."

Danny felt like smacking himself. "Oh…"

Shyann shrugged and gave him an understanding look.

"So, what's been going on with you Danny?" Danielle asked, leaning forward a little. "I see plenty of Phantom in the paper, but I haven't seen Fenton in a long time."

"It's a long story," he replied, steering the truck into the right turning lane.

"So? How long we got till we get to, where are we going anyway?"

"Pick up Jazz from the airport."

"Where's she been?"

"Harvard. She's got a week long break, so she's coming home for it."

"Cool! So how long till we get there?"

"Twenty minutes or so. I was supposed to be there a half hour ago, but Skulker decided to pay me a visit," Danny muttered.

"Why didn't you just use the thermos, anyway?" Danielle asked.

Danny looked sheepish. "I, uh, left it at home."

"Really?" Danielle's quirked a surprised brow. "Wow, you said you never leave home without it."

"I foolishly hoped I wouldn't need it for the short drive," Danny told her.

Shyann giggled behind her hand and Danielle smirked. "Lesson learned?" she teased.

"Who are you, my mother?"


	3. Introductions

By the time the truck pulled into the airport parking lot, Danny's shoulders were shaking with silent laughter from the antics of the two girls in the backseat.

During the drive, Danny had started telling Danielle what had happened since they had last seen each other, and why Fenton had mysteriously vanished from the papers.

However, telling the story proved to be rather difficult.

Danielle kept interrupting him, trying to guess what happened next. Her ideas ranged from killer monkeys to the Box Ghost posing a decent threat (she actually guessed right on that one).

The black haired girl accompanied her guesses with wild arm waving, silly voices, and finishing with a dramatic pose. Shy had been forced to duck the wild gestures, and jumped whenever Danielle would suddenly raise her voice to emphasize an explosion or battle. After being thwacked in the head four times, Shy started mimicking Danielle, exaggerating the other girl's every move.

Danielle caught her, of course, and the two got into a good natured "stop copying me" fight that ended with Danielle trapping Shy in a headlock and giving the peach haired girl a noogie.

The whole scene was quite comical to watch.

The truck parked and Danielle hopped out before Danny had even unbuckled.

"So if I have this right," she said, continuing the stream of chatter she had kept up for the whole ride, "You got sick of the fame after two years, had Tucker and Stopwatch,"

"Clockwork," Danny corrected.

"Tucker and _Clockwork_ wipe everyone else's memory. To cover your tracks, you flew around the world that same day and destroyed all the Phantom statues, and then you basically ransacked Vlad's house and office to make it look like he'd been kidnapped, and the police have been chasing after non-existent kidnappers ever since." She ticked each one off on her fingers and looked to her cousin for confirmation.

Danny nodded. "Yup, that about sums it up."

"Good grief, wouldn't it have been easier to just make everyone forget you're Phantom instead of wiping the whole Disasteroid thing?" Danielle asked.

Danny shrugged. "I don't know, but it seemed like it'd be better to just make everyone forget the event entirely. "

The three teens entered the airport, and were greeted by the loud noises that accompanied airports. People shouting, loud speakers announcing flights, squeaking wheels of suitcases on the tile floor and other noises that couldn't be identified.

Shy promptly covered her ears and made a small sound of distress. Danny looked to Danielle for an explanation.

"She doesn't like crowds," Danielle explained, gently taking Shy's elbow and guiding her throw the mass of people as they followed Danny.

Danny looked up at the signs every once in a while to make sure they were heading the right way. He checked over his shoulder to make sure the girls were still following to.

With Danielle blocking Shy mostly from his view, once or twice he thought she'd fallen behind, but then he'd see a flash of peach assuring she was there. With her wide eyes and the way she stuck to Danielle like a burr, Danny couldn't help thinking Shy reminded him of a lost puppy.

When the trio reached what Danny said was the right gate, Danielle hopped up on a bench, pulling Shy with her, and looked around.

"What does she look like again?" Danielle asked, rising on her toes to see over the sea of people.

"Red hair, teal eyes, has an 'I know everything' look on her face," Danny replied lightly.

"She has a headband, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then I think I see her." Danielle waved her hand in the air, signaling to a red haired young woman standing by the luggage carousals. The red head gave her a confused look in response.

"Right, she doesn't know us. Shy, get Danny up here."

Before Danny could even wonder what she meant, Shy grabbed his upper arm and yanked with a little too much force. Danny yelped as he was practically flung up in the air, over the heads of the people, and landed on the bench. Luckily, no one seemed to have noticed.

Danny blinked and starred at the peach haired girl.

"_Little_ too hard, Shy," Danielle said, and Shy shrugged apologetically. "But it worked. She saw you, Danny."

Danny looked up and saw Jazz weaving her way towards them. He jumped off the bench and met her halfway.

"Danny!" Jazz beamed and grabbed her little brother in a warm hug.

Danny grinned and returned the gesture. "Sorry I'm late," he apologized, "ran into a little trouble."

Jazz waved her hand, brushing his lateness aside. "I figured it was something like that. At least you got here." She looked behind him and gave him a curious look. "Now is it coincidence that there's a girl behind you that looks like she could be your twin or am I seeing things?"

Danny looked behind him and jumped. He hadn't noticed Danielle and Shy follow him. Shy was hiding behind Danielle, her periwinkle blue eyes peering over the other girl's shoulder.

"Long story, Jazz. And it'd be better if Mom and Dad heard it at the same time," Danny explained. "But, this is Danielle and Shyann."

Danielle grinned and Shy smiled shyly. Jazz blinked, but smiled warmly at both of them. "Obviously you know my brother, but in case he hasn't mentioned me, I'm Jazz." She held out her hand and Danielle shook it. "He's mentioned you. Says you have know-it-all syndrome," she added.

Jazz shot Danny an annoyed look, but she smiled as she punched his shoulder teasingly. Danny grinned sheepishly and rubbed it. "You got all your stuff?" he asked.

Jazz nodded and jerked a thumb over her shoulder, pointing at the suitcase behind her.

"Great, then let's go!" Danielle exclaimed, spinning on her heel. She grasped Shy's arm as she sped toward the doors, dragging the startled looking girl along with her and leaving Danny and Jazz starring after them.

Jazz placed her hands on her hips and quirked a brow at her brother. "Spunky little thing, isn't she?"

Danny just chuckled.

* * *

The drive back to FentonWorks was a little different than the first one. First of all, no ghosts attacked.

Secondly, Jazz, unlike Danny, wanted to know about Danielle and Shy then and there rather than wait for everyone to be present so the story was only told once.

Danny felt sorry for the two girls.

The minute they had all climbed in the truck, Jazz started asking questions in that light, casual tone Danny had dubbed her "prying" voice because of how she'd ask probing questions in a way that made them sound like no big deal.

Her first question?

"I don't believe in coincidences, so Danielle, why do you look like a copy of my brother and have the feminine version of his name?"

Danny winced and shot her a look out of the corner of his eye. Jazz ignored him and looked over the seat at the two younger girls.

Shy's brow furrowed slightly as she looked at Danielle. The black haired girl crossed her arms. "It'd be better if we only have to explain it once. It's kind of a long story," she explained.

Jazz was not swayed. "Oh," she said lightly, "Well, then, how do you know Danny?"

"Old friends." Danielle replied.

"How old?"

"Old enough."

"How'd you meet?"

"You'll find out."

"Where do you live?"

"You'll find out."

"Who are your parents?"

"You'll find out."

"When?"

"Later."

"How much later?"

"Later, later."

"Jazz!" Danny cut in before either girl could open their mouth again. Shy, whose head had been snapping back and forth between the two, jerked slightly at his raised voice. All three girls looked at the driver.

Danny sighed and shot Jazz an exasperated look. "Isn't it _Mom's_ job to be the interrogator, not yours?"

Shy giggled and Danielle smirked.

Jazz quirked a brow. "You can't blame me for being curious, can you?"

"Curious, no. Impatient, on the other hand, yes," he replied. "You'll know everything once we get home, so just wait a little bit, okay?"

Jazz sighed and leaned back in her seat. "All right."

"You to, Danielle," Danny added.

"What'd I do?"

"You were a little rude."

"Now who's being Mom?" Jazz teased.

Danielle and Shy both laughed while Danny rolled his eyes and, quite purposely, jerked the steering wheel, making the truck suddenly swerve to the right. The girls shrieked as the force made them fall against their doors (or in the backseat's case, Danielle squished Shy against the door).

Danny smirked as he righted the truck on the road. Jazz sat up and swatted him on the shoulder. "I've told you, don't do that!" she scolded. "It's bad enough that Dad does it in the assault vehicle!"

Shy frowned in confusion and looked at Danielle, who shrugged.

Danny chuckled and grinned deviously at his sister. "Whatever you say, Jazz."

"If you're done endangering our lives," Danielle spoke up from the back, leaning forward on the seat. "Didn't we just pass the turn onto your street?" She pointed out the window and the two siblings followed her gaze.

"Hehe, uh, right," Danny shrugged sheepishly and slowed down to turn around.

"Thank you for noticing that," Jazz said, smiling at Danielle.

"I didn't, Shy did," Danielle replied, nodding at the peach haired girl.

Jazz blinked and looked puzzled as to why Danielle had pointed it out rather than Shy. "Then, thank you, Shyann."

Shy just shrugged in a "no big" way and timidly held out the small notepad. The college student gently took it and read the note scribbled on it.

**Sorry about crashing your homecoming.**

Jazz blinked and looked at the peach haired girl. "You don't have to apologize. It's not like I've been gone forever or something."

"We're working on that," Danny quipped, which earned him another smack on the shoulder from Jazz.

Jazz turned back to Shy and cocked her head. "You're mute, aren't you?"

The three teens looked at the college student in surprise. Jazz simply waited for Shy to answer, which she did by nodding her head.

"How'd you tell?" Danielle asked curiously.

Jazz shrugged as she handed Shy her notebook back. "There's a girl in one of my classes who's mute. She writes or signs everything. That, and she hasn't said a word since we left the airport," she added.

Danielle blinked and looked at Danny. "You sure you're related?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Is it just me, or am I the main target for insults in here?"

"You make it easy, that's why," Danielle chimed, making Jazz and Shy laugh.

"Haha," Danny replied dryly as he turned the pickup into the Fenton's garage.

The four got out of the car and walked around to the front. Shy fell last in line behind Danielle, looking anxious. Danielle whispered something to her and she seemed to relax a little.

Danny opened the front door, calling out as he stepped inside, "Mom, Dad, guys, we're back!"

Jazz followed, placing her suitcases off to the side, and Danielle stepped in behind her.

**GHOST ALERT! GHOST ALERT! ATTACKING GHOST INSIDE HOUSEHOLD! WEAPONS ON!**

Danny covered his ears as the lights began flashing red and a series of metallic whirring and groans revealed ray and plasma guns of various sizes erupted from the ceiling and walls. They all pointed towards the front door where Shy stood with only one foot in the house.

"GHOST!" two voices shouted over the blaring siren, and Danny heard the stampeding of footsteps on the stairs.

Shy starred at the weapons pointed at her for two seconds before abruptly stepping back and slamming the door. Immediately, the siren ceased and the weapons sank back into the walls just as four figures burst into the room, each one holding a smaller version of one of the weapons from only seconds before.

Maddie Fenton pulled down her hazmat suit hood and blinked seeing her two children and a teenage girl that looked like her son.

Jack Fenton didn't notice. "Where's the ghost? I'll show him not to come to the Fenton household uninvited!" he shouted, pointing his gun at random things in the room.

Sam Manson and Tucker Foley squirmed their way to the front and blinked upon seeing Danielle. The two had met the girl briefly in the past, but Danny had told them her story, so they knew who she was.

"Danny, Jazz, who's this?" Maddie asked, placing her gun back in its holder around her waist.

"Did you see the ghost?" Jack added before his wife shot him a firm look. He dejectedly lowered his gun.

"One second Mom," Danny told her. He walked over to a small panel on the wall that looked like an electrical breaker box, only smaller. Danny pressed his thumb on the small handle and a red light flashed. There was a click, and the door opened. Danny flicked off three switches, and the house groaned, signaling the security shut down.

Danny held up his hand as his mother opened her mouth to ask why he had done that and walked back to the front door.

"Okay, I don't know why that happened, but she should be fine now," he said.

Danielle looked uneasy. "Uh, are you sure?" she asked, frowning in concern.

Danny nodded. "It shouldn't have gone off in the first place, with her being human right now. Otherwise it would have gone off on you. Must be a glitch."

"Yeeeeah, well, maybe not so much," Danielle replied as she opened the door and stepped outside. She looked around, than leaned over the small wall.

"It's okay, Danny shut the guns off. You can come in," she said and everyone in the house, except for Jazz, looked at Danny in confusion.

Shy's head popped up a minute later, eyeing the door warily as she climbed over the wall. As if she expected the house to blow up, Shy tentatively stuck her arm in the doorway. When nothing happened, she slowly stepped inside.

"Guys, this is Danielle and Shyann," Danny gestured to each girl. Danielle grinned and waved, while Shy gave a small smile and a more timid wave.

Maddie looked like a fish out of water trying to breathe. She opened her mouth, then shut it, swallowed, and repeated the action four times before finally finding her voice. "Uhm, Danny, can we see you, in the kitchen? Now?"

Danny nodded and while the others followed Maddie into the kitchen, Danny showed Danielle and Shy to the den. "Wait here and I'll talk to them first."

"Shouldn't I be in there? Since you're probably going to tell them about me?" Danielle said.

"I won't tell them anything; just calm them down a little. Then I'll bring them in here and we'll explain," Danny told her.

Danny then left the two girls and went into the kitchen. Five pairs of eyes looked at him as he entered. His parents and Jazz stood around the table while Tucker and Sam leaned against the countertop.

Maddie placed her hands on her hips and arched a brow at her son. "Danny, who are those girls and why does one of them look just like you?"

"And why did Shy set off the security system?" Jazz added.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breathe. "Danielle is the one with black hair, Shyann is the other one. Danielle's a…old friend," Sam and Tucker gave him a look, "kinda. Shy came with her."

"That doesn't answer my other question," Maddie said sternly.

"I know it doesn't. But, Danielle should tell you. And she will. Can you guys calm down enough so we can all go in there and listen?" Danny asked.

Maddie and Jack exchanged looks. Maddie then sighed and nodded.

They all filed into the den, where Danielle and Shy sat on the couch where Danny had left them. The two girls looked up as Jack, Maddie, and Jazz sat in the chairs and Sam and Tucker stood by Danny in front of the fireplace.

"Okay, Danielle, Shy, these are my parents, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley," Danny introduced them all.

"So, uh, were do we start, Danny?" Danielle asked after a few minutes of silence.

Danny frowned slightly and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess, show them?" he suggested.

"Show us what-?" Maddie started, but her words died in her throat as the two girls stood up. Two rings of light appeared around their waists, sliding over their bodies and cloaking them in a white light.

Everyone except Danny gasped at the girl's sudden change in appearance. Sam and Tucker knew Danielle's of course, but Shy was a surprise for them.

They all starred for a minute, then the girls changed back with another flash of light.

"How…"

"What…"

"Did they…"

Maddie was first to recover. Clearing her throat, she waved a hand in the air. "How did, you girls get those powers?"

Danielle exchanged a brief look with Shy. Shy then sat back down and Danielle looked at Danny. "Should I start?"

Danny shrugged. "If you want."

The black haired girl took a deep breath before answering Maddie. "Well, I was, sort of, born with mine."

"Born with?" Jazz said blankly.

"Yup."

"But, your outfit is like Danny's. You even have the same emblem," Jazz pointed out.

Danielle looked to Danny, who took over answering that question. "Danielle's a clone. My clone."

Silence seemed to echo in the room as everyone but Sam and Tucker starred at Danny in shock.

"I'm sorry?"

"She's your what?"

Danielle clasped her arms behind her back and rocked on her toes. "Yeeep. Danielle, or Dani Phantom, with an I. That's me."

Maddie frowned in confusion, chewing her bottom lip like she always did when she was confused. "But, how, why would someone clone you?" she asked.

"One seriously crazed up fruit-loop, that's who," Danny replied dryly.

"Vlad!" Jack exclaimed in surprise.

"When did he do this?" Maddie demanded, her eyes flashing violently.

"A while ago. Since I refused to become his son, he tried to clone me. Danielle was one result, and the only one who wasn't a mindless slave," Danny explained.

Between himself and Danielle, Danielle's entire story was told. From her creation to Danny helping her stabilize herself ("Aha! I knew it worked!" Jack shouted when they told how they had stabilized Danielle. "Not what it was created to do," Jazz had pointed out).

"Okay, so, what's your story?" Sam asked, looking at Shy. The Goth girl had remained silent by the techno geek through Danielle's story, having heard it before. She had instead watched the peach haired girl curiously.

Shy, of course, had sat quietly through the whole thing, her eyes going between Danielle and Danny, whichever one was speaking at the time. Once or twice, her periwinkle eyes had glanced over in Sam and Tucker's direction, only to look away when eye contact was made.

Now Shy looked at Danielle nervously.

Danielle bit her lip. "Quick like a band aide?" she suggested.

Shy shrugged and nodded in a "yeah, better do it" way.

Danielle clasped her hands together like an announcer from a tv show about to declare a winner. "Okay, well. First, Shy is mute, so she writes everything down. Secondly," she held out her arms like she was displaying Shy to them. Shy blinked in surprise. "she is not like Danny and me. She's not a halfa, she's a ghost. That's why the security system went off."

For the third time, silence fell upon the room.

After a few minutes, Danny broke it. "What?"

Danielle sighed; dropping her arms and giving Shy a look. "Told ya he was slow."

"Hey!" Danny objected.

Shy giggled and Danielle put her hands on her hips. "Shy's not half human. She's all ghost. 100% ghost. Not a halfa. She can't, you know" she waved her hand in a circle above her head, "just go ghost then switch back. She is a ghost. All the time."

Tucker stepped forward, one hand under his chin and the other behind his back as he walked around the couch. Shy looked at him in confusion as the dark skinned teen stood behind her. He leaned to the left, then to the right, then centered again.

Then he poked her sharply in the head.

"Tucker!" Sam snapped as Shy rubbed the spot and frowned.

"What? She doesn't look like a ghost!" Tucker replied.

"So you poke her?" Sam crossed her arms and frowned at him.

"She's not cold," he said simply.

Sam blinked and Danny frowned. "She's not?"

Danielle and Shy looked from one boy to the other, both looking confused. "Why's it matter if she's cold?" Danielle asked, puzzled.

"Haven't you noticed when you go ghost you get, sorta, colder?" Tucker said.

Danielle frowned for a minute. "Never really thought about it, but I guess so," she replied slowly.

"Well, ghosts are cold. When one grabs you, you don't notice because you're half ghost, so you're used to it. But when a ghost grabs one of us," Tucker pointed at himself, "it's like getting doused in cold water. _Really_ cold water," he added.

Shy blinked and looked at her hand, her brow furrowed in confusion. Danielle had a similar look on her face.

"You sure she's not cold, Tucker?" Jazz asked, getting up and gently placing a hand on Shy's head. The college student frowned and placed her other hand on Tucker's arm. "She's colder than normal, but not nearly as cold as any ghost," she said, taking her hands off and crossing them across her chest.

Maddie got up from her seat and moved to sit on the table so she was face to face with Shy. The peach haired girl glanced at the woman's holster warily for a minute. Maddie smiled gently and Shy's tense expression eased a little.

"What makes you think you're not a halfa?" Maddie asked.

Shy couldn't help but roll her eyes and exchange a smirk with Danielle. "I asked the same thing," the black haired girl said lightly.

Shy took out her notepad and wrote on it. She held it out to Maddie, who read it aloud.

**I got shot and it didn't hurt. I can go without food and water longer than humans. And my blood is green, not red.**

Maddie frowned and looked at Shy carefully. "You got shot?"

Shy nodded and pointed at her arm.

"Why would someone shoot you?" Jazz asked.

Shy looked sheepish as she wrote another note.

**I accidently spooked a rookie cop and he shot at me. I left before he got into any trouble, though. Got the bullet out myself.**

"Do you have a hole in your arm?" Tucker asked eagerly. Sam frowned at him. "What?" he said innocently.

Danny shook his head, brushing aside Tucker's comment. "Well that rules out halfa. But you're not like any ghost I've ever met," he cocked his head. "How'd you…become a ghost?"

Shy's eyes clouded over and her gaze fell to her knees. Danielle sat back down and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

**Car crash. The car swerved off the road went into the river and I drowned. Next thing I knew, I woke up in the ghost zone.**

"Oh…" was all anyone could really say. There was an awkward pause before Sam quickly changed the subject. "So how did you two meet?"

Danielle answered her. "I got lost and found this run down town, Ghost Hills, in Ohio. Seriously, you should see this place. It's literally crawling with ghosts. They don't attack anyone though. They just, ignore, the people. And no one sees them, so no one knows they're there. And the people are really rude and cold. It's just downright depressing to be there."

Shy nodded, agreeing with her.

"Anyway, Shy wound up there after waking up in the ghost zone and finding a portal that led to it. She stayed there and every once in a blue moon a pathetic excuse for a ghost would try and wreak havoc on the town. Shy chased them off as the Soul Whisperer. We ran into each other and I convinced her to leave the town. We've been traveling together ever since." Danielle wrapped an arm around the other girl's neck and pulled her into a headlock while ruffling her hair. Shy smiled as she tried to pry her head loose.

"Was that a good idea?" Danny asked, frowning slightly. "If she was protecting the town from ghosts—"

"Danny, trust me," Danielle cut him off; "the ghosts were harmless. Even the ones that _did_ attack caused no damage. At all."

Danny accepted this answer, and smiled as Shy managed to break free from Danielle's headlock. The peach haired girl pushed Danielle's head away. Danielle retaliated by bobbing back like a ping pong ball, knocking heads with the other girl and effectively giving them both large bumps from the collision.

"So, you three all have the same powers then?" Jazz asked, her lips twitching in a smirk.

Danielle's eyes lit up. "Not exactly," she grinned and turned to Danny. "You got any place to practice around here?"

Danny nodded. "Downstairs in the lab. Mom and Dad expanded on it to give me a practice area."

"Sweet! Let's go!" Danielle exclaimed, leaping up from the couch and pulling Shy with her as she ran towards the only staircase she could see.

"I said _downstairs_," Danny called after her, and the girl made a sharp u-turn that looked like it gave Shy whiplash from how fast she spun around.

"Back door."

"How many doors does one house need?" was Danielle's exasperated reply.

Danny chuckled. "It's the next door on your right."

There was a cry of "aha!" that was followed by the pounding of feet on stairs.

Maddie looked curiously at her son. "That energetic girl is _your_ clone?"

Danny rolled his eyes, but smiled. "Yup. Shall we go?"

Jack, Maddie, and Jazz headed down to the lab, but Sam grabbed Danny by the arm and held him back along with Tucker.

"Danny, are you sure that's a good idea?" Sam asked, concern showing in her violet eyes.

Danny blinked. "What? Showing them the lab? Why wouldn't it be?"

Sam bit her lip and fiddled with the necklace she wore. It was a silver chain with a black star as a charm. Danny had given it to her for Christmas, and she never took it off. It had become a habit for her to play with it when she was thinking or uncertain.

"Sam, what's wrong?" Danny asked gently.

"Well, it's just," she sighed, "I know you trust Danielle, but what about Shyann? You said it yourself; she's not like any ghost you've met before. How do you know she's not another Ember or Spectra?"

He looked at Tucker. "Do you think that to?"

The dark skinned teen shrugged. "She seems fine to me, but Sam does have a point. Are you sure you can trust her?"

Danny ran a hand through his always messy hair. "It _did_ cross my mind briefly," he admitted, "But guys, she helped save me from Skulker, and we were alone on the way to the airport."

"Danielle was there both times though," Sam pointed out.

He hadn't thought of that. Danny's brow furrowed slightly.

"Wait a minute. Dude, why isn't your ghost sense going off?" Tucker said suddenly.

The three teens blinked and looked at Danny's mouth. Sure enough, no puff of blue mist was coming from his mouth like it normally did when a ghost was nearby.

"Has it gone off at all around Shy?" Sam asked.

Danny shook his head. "Now that I think about it, no."

"But, she's a ghost. How can it not be going off?" Tucker looked as confused as the other two.

Danny shrugged, his brow furrowed. Sam looked more concerned. "Maybe we should ask your parents to run some tests. She's definitely not a normal ghost."

Danny was silent for a moment before sighing. "You guys remember when I got that bad feeling about Gregor, and it turned out to be, partially right?"

"Yeah, but you got that feeling from being jealous in the first place," Tucker said, a teasing gleam in his eye.

Danny blushed and rubbed his neck. "Anyway," he brushed over it and looked solemnly at them both. "I don't have that feeling about Shy. She seems genuine, and, really, did she look like she would hurt a fly, much less a person?"

Sam and Tucker exchanged a look before slowly nodding.

"We can keep an eye on her, and ask if it's okay to run a few tests, but I don't think she's going to cause any harm," Danny added.

The three then joined the others in the lab. Danielle and Shy had transformed and were hovering above the others. Maddie had activated the hoops Danny used during his flight practices, so the two girls could use them. Danielle was hanging on one of them like a trapeze artist and swinging in circles through the hoop. Shy watched, her head rolling as she followed the spinning girl's rotation.

"Athletic," Danny commented as the trio joined his parents and Jazz.

"Danielle's reflexes are the same as yours, but Soul's are much faster," Maddie told him, looking down at the speedometer in her hand. She had tweaked it so it worked on ghosts, and from a farther distance. She merely had to point and click the button for it to work. "It's amazing."

"Soul?" Tucker asked.

"She says to call her Soul Whisperer or Soul when she looks like this," Jazz explained. "According to Danielle."

Danielle ceased her spinning and simply hung from the hoop, dangling in the air. "What next?" she called out.

"How about aim?" Danny suggested.

"Awesome!" Danielle grinned and flipped off the hoop, somersaulting through the air. Soul swooped after her as the hoops retracted into the walls. A series of cutouts of various ghosts popped out around the girls.

Danielle made the first move. Kicking her leg around, she shot a blast of green ecto energy at the target above the doorway. The cutout exploded into tiny pieces.

Soul flung a beam of white at one of the targets sticking out of the wall. It to, exploded.

"Ghost rays, check," Jack said, writing on the clipboard he held.

"Hey, let's see what you guys can do that Danny can't!" Tucker called out.

Danielle grinned and did a flip kick. Green ghost rays shot from her feet, each hitting and destroying a target.

Soul held up her hand, a small orb of light forming in her palm. She tossed the orb at a target, and the moment the orb touched, it exploded with more force than a normal ghost ray.

Danielle then flew up and did another flip, kicking out with her legs as she did so. To everyone's, even Danny's, surprise, two beams of blue shot from her feet and formed into icicles that pierced through the targets like a hot knife through butter.

"I thought she was cloned before you got your ice powers?" Tucker asked Danny.

"She was. But she has ghost sense, and that's part of it, so I guess she figured it out," Danny replied.

Soul held out her hand and one of the targets glowed white. Soul clenched her hand into a fist and the target snapped in half like a twig.

"Telekinesis," Jazz said, looking impressed.

Danielle did a backflip before floating down and landing in front of them. Soul followed suite.

"That was awesome! When did you figure out the ice powers?" Danny asked, looking at Danielle.

She grinned. "I knew you'd have them to. I can only make icicles though, and only two at a time. I can't do anything else with it," she told him.

"Probably because Vlad cloned you before he knew I had them," Danny explained.

Danielle shrugged. "Oh well. The icicles really come in handy, so I'm not complaining."

"So, Soul is faster, has white ghost energy, and can make those little, ghost ray bombs?" Tucker said, ticking each one of on his fingers.

Danielle smirked. "Welllllll, that's not _allll _she can do," she said, a mischievous glint in her eyes, "There's one more thing she can do that I can't. I don't think Danny can do it either."

"What is it?"

"Let's see!"

Danielle and Shy exchanged a look, and Danielle turned to Danny with a sly grin while Shy covered her mouth to hide a smile.

"C'mon," Danielle grabbed Danny's wrist and pulled him into the center of the room. Confused, Danny followed and stood where she told him to. She then flew over to Soul, who was hovering a few feet away.

"Kay, show 'em," Danielle told her, extending one arm towards Danny.

Everyone watched as Soul took a small breath and closed her eyes. When she opened her mouth, out came the sweetest sound any of them had ever heard.

A beautiful, angelic, yet strangely hypnotic, melody floated from her lips. At the same time, a white mist drifted from her mouth and circled around Danny. The mist dipped and danced along with the song, twirling around him like ribbons. He felt his eyelids grow heavy, and his mind began to fog up as he listened.

It only took a few seconds for him to collapse to the floor.

Maddie gasped.

"It's okay," Danielle assured them all quickly. "He's just asleep. Watch." She flew over to him and prodded him with her foot a few times. Danny groaned and rolled onto his back, placing one arm on his forehead.

Blinking, he squinted up at Danielle and Soul's faces looking down at him.

"What just happened?" he asked blankly.

Danielle giggled. "We call it her Siren Song. It can put anything and anyone to sleep."

"But siren's seduced sailors so they could drag them into the sea and drown them, not put them to sleep," Sam pointed out.

Danielle shrugged. "It sounded catchy," she said simply.

Danny groaned as he sat up, holding a hand to his head. Shy looked worried as he got to his feet, taking a step back to steady himself. She tentatively touched his shoulder and he looked at her concerned expression. Danny smiled. "I'm fine, really. Just a little dizzy," he assured her, and her expression cleared.

Danielle grinned and patted Shy on the back as both girls changed back to their normal appearances. "I know the feeling."

Danny quirked a brow. "She used it on you?"

Shy smiled sheepishly and rubbed her arm. Danielle flipped her hand. "Psh. I was asking for it."

Danny blinked. "Huh?"

"I wouldn't stop talking, so she shut me up," Danielle shrugged.

Shy grinned and nodded.

"Bet that was super effective," Tucker joked.

"No more video games for you," Sam said promptly, snatching the PDA the dark skinned boy had just taken out.

"Hey!" Tucker objected and tried to get it back, but Sam raised it above her head and held him back. Tucker's arms flailed as he reached for the electronic device.

Danielle laughed as she watched and Danny shook his head with an exasperated smile on his face. While the two black haired teens watched the dark skinned boy's futile attempts to retrieve the device, a devious grin crossed Shy's face.

As discreetly as possible, the peach haired girl turned her hand slightly so it was pointed towards the two older teens. The PDA glowed softly and, with a flick of her wrist, was yanked out of Sam's hand. The Goth girl blinked and looked up as the PDA floated over to Shy, who raised her hand and caught it with a smile.

Danielle burst out laughing, and Danny joined her. Sam frowned and crossed her arms, though she too smiled at the girl. Tucker whooped and ran over, taking the PDA when Shy held it out to him and grabbed the girl's hand and raised it in the air in a victory pose.

"Dude, can I borrow her?"

"Tucker!" Danny exclaimed. Danielle snickered and Shy looked bewildered as Tucker let go of her arm.

"All right you five, out before you break something," Maddie ordered, coming up to the teenagers and jerking her thumb at the door.

Danielle clicked her heels together and saluted. "Yes ma'am," she replied in a deep voice.

Tucker snorted to stifle a laugh, Sam and Shy giggled, and Danny chuckled.

Maddie's lips twitched in a smile. "Out," she repeated.

"Uh, before we do that," Danny started, glancing over at Shy, "I have a, uhm, question for Shy."

Shy blinked and cocked her head at him.

Danny took a deep breath before speaking again. "Since you're obviously not like normal ghosts, would it be all right if," he hesitated, casting a quick look at Sam and Tucker before continuing. "Ifmyparentsdidafewtests." The question rushed out of his mouth so quickly he hardly felt his lips move.

Danielle starred at him before slowly looking at Shy. The peach haired girl's face looked blank for a few seconds before her eyes widened and she stiffened. Danielle put a calming hand on her shoulder before looking questioningly at Danny. "What kind of tests?"

"A blood test," Maddie said suddenly. The five teens looked at her. "All we'd need is a sample of her blood, or ectoplasm, and we would have everything we needed to run a few simple tests," she explained.

Shy and Danielle exchanged a long glance before Shy slowly nodded, still looking anxious as Maddie went and retrieved a needle.

Shy lifted her arm, pushing up her sleeve so Maddie could inject the needle (Tucker quickly looked away). The small tube filled with green liquid and Maddie gave Shy a gentle smile before walking back to Jack and Jazz.

"Next time, ask _me_ about running tests _before_ asking the subject," she muttered to Danny out of the corner of her mouth as she walked by him. Danny shrugged sheepishly.

Shy pushed her sleeve back down and rubbed her arm where the needle had gone in.

"You can look, Tucker," Sam tapped the dark skinned teen on the shoulder.

Danielle quirked a brow and looked at Danny as Tucker sighed with relief. "He hates needles," he told her.

"So does Shy," Danielle remarked. Shy shuddered and made a face. Danny laughed.

"Hey Danny, your Mom's giving us the evil eye. We'd better leave," Sam said, pointing over where the older woman was glaring at the five teens.

They all made a beeline for the stairs.

* * *

Danny leaned against the door frame as Jack, Maddie, and Jazz sat in the den. Jazz sat by the window while his parents took the couch.

Sam and Tucker where outside with Danielle and Shy. Danny had asked his friends to take the two girls outside so he could talk privately with his family. By the looks they had given him, Danny knew they probably had an idea what he wanted to talk about.

"All right, are there any other secrets you've been keeping from us?" Maddie demanded, though there was a hint of a smile on her face and she looked more exasperated then angry. "Ghost powers, Vlad being your arch enemy, and now a clone? What else is there?"

Danny chuckled. "Nope, that just about covers it."

"Well, Vlad got your looks and powers down. Cloning your personality, though, I'd say he skipped out," Jazz commented as she looked out the window.

Tucker and Sam were in the front yard and, currently, Tucker was trying to scramble up a tree. Danielle and Shy were already perched on the highest branch of the tree, looking down at him. Sam was shaking her head as she watched her friend's feeble attempts at climbing.

"Danielle's as spunky as you are clueless," the college student added.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Let that live forever," he muttered.

"Jazz is right, though," Maddie said thoughtfully, and her children looked at her. "To be honest Danny, Shyann reminds me more of you then Danielle does."

Danny blinked and followed his mother and sister's gaze out the window. Shy had locked her legs around the branch and swung down, looking like a trapeze artist as she dangled above Tucker's head with a perfectly innocent grin. Danielle was stretched out on the branch, her back leaning against the tree's trunk and looking down at Tucker with a grin. She apparently was teasing him, because the older boy attempts to get up the tree became more determined.

"Actually, there's one more thing I want to talk about," Danny said suddenly. His parents and sister looked at him carefully. He took a deep breath before asking, "How do you guys feel about adoption?"

* * *

_Author's notes:_

_I apologize if anyone found this insanely boring to read. I truly do._

_I feel like I might have rushed this chapter :/ I'll probably end up editing it at some point in the future, but for now, I want to get this story moving into the more interesting parts._

_So bare with me, please?_

_Danielle's Ice Powers: Here me out. I KNOW she was cloned before Danny got his powers (it's even in this chapter). BUT, since she has Danny's ghost sense, and the ghost sense is PART of the ice powers, I figure she has at least SOME ice ability. However, it's only a little. Icicles can shoot from her feet, but that's it. She can't use it to freeze anything like Danny did with Undergrowth, okay? Icicles are ALL she can do._

_I think that's all I wanted to address..._


	4. New Additions

"I said _climb_ the tree. Not _fly_ up it!"

"Na-uh. You said 'race ya up that tree'. You said nothing about climbing."

"She's got you there, Tucker."

"Come on now, dude! Make like a squirrel and climb!"

The dark skinned boy scowled and tugged his beret firmly on his head. With a determined gleam in his eyes, Tucker jumped up. His hands managed to grab hold of one of the lower branches. "Aha!" he declared triumphantly.

Danielle smirked. "Great, now pull yourself up."

Tucker blinked. Gritting his teeth, he kicked his legs as he tried to pull himself up to the branch. He managed to get his elbows on the branch, and his face split into a grin.

"Ha! Told ya I cou—"

_CRACK!_

The branch snapped and Tucker fell to the ground with a painful yelp.

Shy gasped while Sam and Danielle burst out laughing. Tucker groaned and sat up, scowling at them both. "Hardy har har," he muttered sarcastically.

Sam rolled her eyes and held out a hand to help him up. While the Goth girl started teasing the Techno geek about his lack of athletic skills, Danielle and Shy had their own little exchange.

Danielle looked over at the window that looked into the Fenton den. Maddie stood in front of the window, her back turned; Jack was on the couch, Jazz perched on the arm of a chair by the window. Danny stood in the middle of the room, currently facing his mother.

Shy nudged Danielle's shoulder and gave her a questioning look.

"I wish I knew what they were talking about," the black haired girl whispered. "We've been out here for almost an hour."

Shy gave her a sympathetic look.

"Why aren't you nervous? You practically fainted when I said I wanted to come back here!"

Shy rolled her eyes and pulled out her notepad from her pocket.

**No, when you told me his parents were ghost hunter's, **_**that's**_** when I nearly fainted.**

"Details. So why are you calm so suddenly? You should be stressing out more than I am! They could be talking about dissecting us or sending us to some government lab in area 51!"

Shy smacked the black haired girl's shoulder with her notepad. Danielle winced and wobbled for a second before regaining her balance and glaring at the other girl.

**You hypocrite. That's what**_** I**_** freaked out about the second you said "ghost hunters"! **

"And it took me three days to convince you otherwise."

_Smack!_

"That thing _hurts_, ya know!" Danielle muttered, rubbing her now rather sore shoulder.

Shy just quirked a brow and held up her notepad. Danielle raised a hand defensively, expecting to be whacked with it again. Shy's lips twitched in a smirk, and Danielle saw the words on the paper.

**Not the point. You're the one who kept telling me they're not those kind of people. So why are **_**you**_** suddenly thinking it, hm?**

Danielle blinked and sighed heavily. "Yeah, but, I don't know, just the look I saw those three exchange," she waved a hand, clarifying Danny, Sam, and Tucker as the "three" she was talking about. "Just one of those looks that they know what he wants to discuss. And we don't. I hate not knowing!"

Shy rolled her eyes, but smiled gently.

"Now back to my question, why are you so calm suddenly?"

Shy pondered this for a minute before writing her answer.

**They seem like nice people, and they've been friendly to us. They haven't done anything to let us think they'd do something like experiment on us. **

Danielle quirked a brow in surprise. Between the two girls, Shy was the cautious one. She normally did not judge a person right away, unlike Danielle who pretty much lived by the "first impressions are usually right" motto. If someone rubbed her the wrong way right off the bat, Danielle would stay away, plain and simple.

Shy preferred to get to know people _at least_ a _little_ before deeming them as likeable or not. Whether she got a good vibe or bad vibe from them, she'd push away her first impression of a person until she met them, just in case she had misjudged them.

If Shy was trusting her first impression (and what little time they had spent with them) of the Fenton's, Sam, and Tucker, she must be getting a really good vibe from them.

Shy smiled encouragingly.

**Come on, being the worry-wart is **_**my**_** job. **_**You're**_** supposed to be telling **_**me**_** to loosen up! This switching role's is weird.**

Shy wrinkled her nose to emphasize her point, making Danielle laugh. Her laugh suddenly turned into a shriek as she abruptly slid off the branch without warning.

Startled, Shy looked down. At the base of the trunk, there was a heap of arms and legs. While the girls had been talking, Tucker had worked his way up the tree, but when he got below the girls, he had reached up and accidently grabbed Danielle's ankle instead of a branch. Thus, when he tried to pull himself up, the black haired girl slid off the branch, crashed on top of him, and sent them both plummeting to the ground where they landed in a heap; Tucker flattened like a pancake on the grass while Danielle had fallen on top of him.

He let out a very justified groan of pain.

Sam shook her head in dismay. "I tried to warn you, Tucker. That wasn't a branch."

The Techno geek shot the Goth girl an irritated glare. "Ya _think_?"

* * *

"You realize what you're asking, right?" Maddie told her son. "Just because you're graduating this summer and leaving for collage doesn't mean it won't affect you."

"I know," Danny replied calmly.

"And Jazz, are you sure you're okay with this?"

"You mean not only will I be getting the little sister I always wanted, I'll be getting two of them? Sound's fine to me."

Maddie looked over at her husband. Jack grinned and nodded, giving a thumb's up to show his approval.

"Well," Maddie smiled, her eyes twinkling, "I guess we're unanimous then. Danny, please call them in."

Danny grinned and walked over to the door. He called the four outside, and a few minutes later everyone was in the den again.

Danielle and Shy stood by the window, both looking like a pair of flightless birds being thrown into a cage of starving cats.

Tucker and Sam looked over at Danny, who grinned and winked at them before stepping forward. Shy shifted an inch closer to Danielle.

Deciding not to beat around the bush, Danny took a deep breath before speaking. "Danielle, Shyann, would you like to become Fentons? Officially?"

The two girls blinked and stared at him, dumfounded, for several minutes before exchanging a glance. "Pardon?" Danielle asked.

"Ah, _now_ I see you in her, Danny," Jazz smiled.

Danny rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. "We talked about it, and, we were wondering, if you two would like to," he waved a arm around the room, "become one of the family."

Both girls continued to stare at him. "You want to….adopt, us?" Danielle asked slowly.

Shy quickly scribbled something on her notepad and held it up with an equally shocked look.

**After just meeting us?**

Maddie smiled warmly at the two girls. "Of course. You're both charming girls, we'd love to have you both in the family."

Danielle and Shy looked at each other. Shy made a series of gestures with her hand with a questioning look on her face. Danielle frowned and made a few gestures as she shook her head.

The others looked at Danny in confusion, but he just shrugged as he watched the exchange.

Danielle bopped her palm against Shy's forehead and quirked a brow at her. Shy blinked and twirled her hand above her head, following by sweeping her arm in a circle in front of her. Danielle rolled her eyes and whispered something in her ear. Shy cocked her head and shrugged.

The girls finally turned back to Danny.

"We'd love to," Danielle said, grinning from ear to ear.

Danny beamed and Jazz leapt off the chair. She grabbed Danny by the arm and yanked him foreword into a rather squashed and awkward four way hug with the newest additions. Tucker and Sam joined in, while Jack and Maddie watched with warm smiles.

* * *

Danielle and Shy moved into FentonWorks immediately. It was decided that the girls would get Jazz's room, since, as Jazz pointed out, it made the most sense for them to have her old room and paint it however they liked instead of having to rearrange the smaller guestroom to fit two people. It made more sense for Jazz to use the guestroom when she came home for visits, and the college student assured the two younger girls she did not mind and that they weren't "kicking her out of her room", she was offering it to them.

Jack went out and bought another bed, which he, Danny, and Tucker worked on setting up while Maddie, Jazz, and Sam took the girls shopping for other things they might want in the room.

It took little over three hours to put the bed together. Danny and Tucker had to insist that they use normal tools rather than the Fenton-drill, Fenton-driver, or any of the other tools that had been Fentonfied over the years.

This did not stop Jack from trying, however.

For twenty minutes, the Fenton-hammer, a hammer equipped with small rockets, a targeting system, and a plasma laser, chased Danny and Tucker around the house after Jack had accidently switched it on when trying to pry a misplaced screw out. The Fenton-hammer's targeting system locked on the teenage boys and deemed them "targets". Danny finally managed to grab hold of it and wrestle the thing to the ground so he could flip it off.

The boys made sure Jack had no more Fenton-vices on him after that.

When the girls returned, everyone received a sharp reminder on a very important detail.

**GHOST ALERT! GHOST ALERT! ATTACKING GHOST INSIDE HOUSEHOLD! WEAPONS ON! **

Shy jumped back and slammed the door as the many guns sprouted from the walls and pointed at the door.

Danny smacked his forehead and groaned. "Daaaad, I thought you said you fixed that!"

His father grinned sheepishly. Jazz and Sam rolled their eyes in unison as Maddie went over to deactivate the system.

They decided to register the Shy's DNA into the system right there so they wouldn't have to go through this every time she stepped through the door. They did Danielle, just to be safe, as Tucker pointed out her DNA and Ectoplasmic signature would be identical to Danny's (who was already registered in the system), contrary to what Danny had originally thought. ("She's your clone dude, why wouldn't she have the same DNA?" "Shut up.")

Danielle and Shy had agreed on painting the room a soft fawn color with dark green trim around the ceiling (they deiced to leave the cream carpet that Jazz had put in). Jack and Maddie left the painting to the teens, which turned out to be a good idea—sort of.

Danny found an extension cord and set up his radio in the hall (out of the way so no one got paint on it) so they could listen to music. About ten minutes into their painting, Danielle accidently smacked Danny in the face with her brush, making him look like he had a lopsided tan, with small dots of it speckling his black hair.

Shy giggled.

Danielle tried to hide a smile, but she failed. Danny smirked and retaliated by suddenly sticking his arm out. Danielle ducked at the last minute and the brush smeared tan paint all over Sam's face.

All paint broke loose.

An hour or so later, the room was painted, as where the five teens and college student.

Maddie ordered them all out into the yard to hose themselves down.

Five minutes later she heard squeals and shouts coming from the front yard. Looking out the window, she saw Shy and Jazz run by. Tucker was close on their heels, dragging the garden hose and showering them both with the cold water. Danielle snuck up behind him with a bucket and dunked it over the older boy. Sam took that moment to race by and snatch the hose from Tucker. She turned around just as Danny poured a bucket over her head. Sam sprayed him in the face.

Maddie chuckled as she watched. "Not what I had in mind when I told them to hose down," she murmured with a smile.

* * *

Something tapped Danielle's shoulder. Blinking groggily, she rolled over and looked up.

Shy's eyes almost seemed to glow pale blue in the moonlight that poured in from the window to their new room. They were slightly narrowed, something Danielle had come to associate with concern or worry.

"What's wrong?" the black haired girl whispered, sitting up. Shy sat down on the bed and held up her notepad with one hand. The other hand glowed softly with white light as she held it under the notepad so Danielle could see the words written on it.

**We lied.**

Danielle blinked. "About what?"

**You know what.**

"We didn't lie. It was never brought up, and we never said anything about it."

**We should have told them.**

"Yeah….But they have your blood, they'll find out through whatever tests they run now. So when it comes up, we'll tell them, and maybe they can fix it. Or at least find out why it happens."

**That'd be nice...**

Danielle smiled softly and put a gentle hand on Shy's shoulder. "Yeah….yeah it would…."

* * *

_Short chpt is short._

_I did try to make it longer by stretching the adoption talk, but I could not for the life of me come up with anything that didn't sound incredibly stupid or redundant. I kept deleting, editing, deleting, ect, ect... ^^; So yeah, to anyone who thinks the adoption thing went too quickly. I'm sorry, I tried! D:_

_You may have noticed in the last chpt that Jack did not say much, nor does he in this chpt. That is because I have trouble writing Jack so he sounds like, well, Jack. He either sounds **too** stupid(in that way we all love) or out of character. So yes, I do tend to avoid making him speak. He **will** talk more in a later fic, just not so much in this one._

_The next chpt will address the one thing we all love so much: School! **-bricked-**_


	5. Teachers, Students, Shakespeare, Oh My!

Enrolling Danielle and Shy in Casper High required some doing. Neither girl had documentation that was normally required, so it took some juggling to get them in.

Luckily, the girls weren't behind their grade level, give or take a few lessons. Even Danielle, who had never actually been to school, was up to par.

Shy was a bookworm and had insisted on stopping by a library whenever the girls came across one on their travels. She made Danielle work on the basic subjects as well (much to Danielle's dismay), and she herself had dabbled in advanced English. She didn't know enough to skip a grade, but it was enough to make Danny's head spin ("Though that's not hard to do," Tucker had commented. Danny jabbed him in the arm).

Tucker came up with a cover story for the girls (though he went overboard with the first version and had to down play it).

Danielle and Shyann would be introduced as (fraternal) twin sisters, distant cousins of Jack's, from northern Colorado. The girl's parents had died in a freak house fire, and were being taken in by their Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack.

"I call being the older twin!" Danielle declared.

Shy frowned.

**By two minutes.**

"Six."

**Three.**

"Four."

**One.**

"Deal!.….wait…Hey!"

Shy giggled and dashed out of the room as Danielle chased after her shouting, "That's cheating! You're supposed to say five!"

The girl's received their schedules the Friday before they would start school. They found they had all their classes together except one; the classes Sam said was called their "extra" class, as to make sure the students had an eight hour school day. Shy had art class, while Danielle, who had not really been interested in the choices, had simply decided to take French class.

Shy had been curious about her choice.

**Why French?**

Danielle scowled. "So I can get revenge on that mime in his native tongue."

Shy rolled her eyes and Jazz, who had been on the couch when they had this conversation, looked curiously at them. "Mime?"

Shy held up a note.

**This mime in Paris kept following her around while we were there. She didn't like him copying her.**

"He was mocking me!" Danielle exclaimed.

Shy shook her head in dismay and shrugged.

**She told him to go away, but he either didn't speak English or was ignoring her. Then Danielle kinda, ruined, his act by not playing along.**

"Trap me in a glass box," the black haired girl muttered, "I'll show ya a box."

**You already burned his foot, let it go.**

Jazz quirked a brow at Danielle. "You burned his foot?"

"Well, I tried to," Danielle admitted. "Shy tossed water on him before it could do much," she grinned. "It ruined his makeup, though. He got pretty ticked 'bout that."

Shy blushed sheepishly.

"Please tell me you two haven't angered the natives in every country you've been to," Jazz asked.

Danielle cocked her head as she pondered the question. "I don't think we messed with the Scots, did we?" she looked at the peach haired girl.

Shy frowned at her.

**You put bubble mix in a pair of bagpipes. The poor bagpiper was blowing bubbles during the parade!**

Danielle rubbed the back of her neck. "Hehe, oh yeah. But that one was an accident! I didn't mean to drop the stuff! It just, _happened,_ to land on the infernal instrument!"

Shy smacked her hand to her forehead and Jazz laughed.

* * *

_Creeeeak._

Shy flinched at the sound the window made as she slowly pushed it open. Looking over her shoulder, she made sure it hadn't woken Danielle. The black haired girl simply rolled over in her sleep.

Shy sighed with relief. Quietly, she climbed onto the windowsill and floated out into the night air. Dark clouds kept the moon from casting its soft light and covering the town in darkness. She hadn't switched appearances, for the darkness hid her from view as long as she stayed in the shadows.

Silently, Shy flew to the roof and perched on the edge. Hugging her knees to her chest, she rested her chin on them and looked out over the city. A gentle night breeze played with her hair.

Normally, Shy would never have done this. Unlike other ghosts, who commonly came out at night, she preferred the daytime. She especially hated being out in the open at night. That was when ghost hunters loved to, well, hunt.

The very thought of being caught made her shudder. A definite downside to being a ghost was she had to be extra careful, _especially_ when a hunter was around.

Shy glared at her arm. Something as small as a paper cut could give her away, all because her blood was green instead of red. It had almost happened once, too.

She and Danielle had been hiking through the woods in Brazil. It had been a beautiful sunny day, and it was about mid-day when the girls were making their way up a small hill. Out of nowhere something grabbed Shy's leg and she fell.

Both girls had been shocked to see a hunter's trap latched around her ankle.

Now, Shy had a high tolerance for pain, being a ghost and all, things that hurt humans (being shot in the leg, for example) barely made her wince. But twenty three, six inch metal teeth sinking into her leg _definitely_ qualified as painful.

To make matters worse, before Shy could turn intangible and get her leg out, a group of hikers came across them. A woman in the group screamed when she saw Shy's leg covered in green blood.

Shy panicked, and without thinking, turned invisible. This made the rest of the group scream and freak out. She flashed to intangible long enough to pull her leg out, then became invisible again before pushing herself off the ground with her good leg and taking off into the sky. Danielle had turned invisible and quickly followed her.

Shy sighed heavily. Many times she'd replayed that incident in her head, and she was always grateful the hikers hadn't had cameras. Better yet, they had been normal hikers, not ghost hunters. Still, she was sure the group had been permanently traumatized. That or they thought they had been hallucinating or dreaming. Either way, green blood was not something one forgot easily.

Movement in the street below suddenly caught her eye, interrupting her thoughts. Curious as to why anyone would be out this late, Shy looked around for a figure of some sort.

Nothing.

She frowned slightly. Had she imagined it?

Then she saw movement again, across the street. She cocked her head, then smiled. A cat strolled down the street like it owned the town, its bushy tail swishing idly behind it.

Shy slipped back inside the house.

* * *

Monday morning came and both girls were up before anyone else. They grabbed a quick bite to eat, then waited outside for Danny to get up. They would be walking to school with him, meeting up with Sam and Tucker when they got there. Danny had also told the girls who, aside from his family, knew his secret. Both girls agreed it would be easier to just not bring the subject up, and act like anyone else if someone did so: Perfectly oblivious.

Danielle stood on top of the wall that was on either side of the steps that led to the house, balancing on one foot out of boredom. Shy sat on the sidewalk, her notepad in her lap, and was idly doodling.

"Why do we have to have Economics of all things first," Danielle complained.

Without looking up, Shy raised a note in the air so Danielle could read it.

**You only say that because you hate it.**

"Your point?"

Shy rolled her eyes.

"All Economics is going to do is put me to sleep. Government, bleh," she made a face, "I wish we had something _interesting_ first. Like Science!"

Shy winced. She didn't like Science.

**I'd rather have English.**

"Of course you would. _You're_ good at it. _I_ suck. I dread when the teacher assigns us our first paper, it'll probably be on Shakespeare or something," Danielle pressed the back of her hand to her forehead and sighed dramatically. "O woe is me! A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!" she took a pencil from her bag and brandished it like a sword, pointing it to the heavens and swinging it madly around.

"Why then tonight let us assay our plot! Done to death by slanderous tongue! Have after! To what issue will this come? How now? A rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!"

Shy giggled.

**You do know none of those were in order, right?**

Danielle grinned mischievously and stood tall and stiff (like a butler), holding one hand under her chin like she was stroking a beard. "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

Laughing, Shy threw a crumpled paper ball at her. Danielle leaned to the side with a grin as the ball flew past her. When she straightened, she cocked her head and looked behind her just as the door opened. "Something be rotten in the state of Denmark."

Danny quirked a brow at her as he hoisted his backpack over his shoulder. "We're not in Denmark."

"Touché, jet hair delinquent."

Danny turned to Shy, who had covered her mouth to stifle her laughter, with a questioning look. The peach haired girl could only grin and shrug before Danielle hopped down from the wall. She wrapped an arm around Danny's shoulders and flung the other arm out, pointing it down the street.

"Come! Let's away to prison, we two alone will sing like birds I' th' cage!" she exclaimed dramatically.

Shy burst out laughing, while Danny looked at Danielle in bewilderment. "Did you hit your head this morning?" he asked slowly.

"Not recently, no."

* * *

They got to school with enough time to chat with Tucker and Sam for a few minutes before the bell rang. They had the same lunch hour, and Danny told them to meet him, Sam, and Tucker at the cafeteria. Then they separated for their classes.

The girls first hour, Economics, was taught by Mrs. Malby, a tall woman with pink wire rimmed glasses, and lots of poofy, ginger hair. She wore a very, colorful, long sleeved shirt with large sleeves and a pair of bright yellow jeans and red sandals.

"How much hairspray does she _use_? Her hair doesn't _move_," Danielle whispered in awe.

Shy stifled a giggle by pretending to sneeze.

The girls had little trouble finding all their classes, and the teachers were likeable and seemed to like the girls as much as they liked the other students.

Miss Tetslaff was another story. She judged her students right off the bat, and the moment Danielle and Shy walked into fourth hour gym class, she had them labeled: Danielle, small, but full of spunk, might be a decent athlete. Shy, small and frail, would probably be among the least athletic of her students this year.

She was quickly proven wrong.

It was indoor kickball that day, so Tetslaff assigned the girls to separate teams (she always avoided putting siblings on the same team; she felt good ol' sibling rivalry helped their game). Danielle was first kicker on her team, while Shy was on first base for hers. Tetslaff put Shy there because it was a well-known fact that first base was the calmest; nearly everyone could get to second on a decent kick.

The pitcher tossed the ball. One sharp kick from Danielle and the ball was sent hurling back at him as she made a dash for first. Danielle had always been a good runner, and the pitcher scrambled to catch the ball and throw it to Shy.

Tetslaff watched as the ball soared towards the peach haired girl, expecting her to miss it.

She did nothing of the sort.

Shy jumped up just as the ball flew over her head. Her hands clasped around it and she dropped back down.

If you blinked, you'd have missed it.

Danielle had already passed to second base, so the catch didn't get her out, but it did change Tetslaff's mind about Shy. Her mind continued to change as the class went on.

Now, Shy was no athlete. She'd told Danielle she'd never played a sport in her life, unless kicking a ball around with some kids in a park counted (not soccer, just kicking it to each other). But fighting ghost's did leave her very athletic. And she did try her hardest. Sure, she didn't catch every ball that went her way, and she did strike out a couple times when it was her turn to kick, but she tried, and that was good enough for Tetslaff.

* * *

After Gym it was lunch. They met Danny, Sam, and Tucker at the main entrance to the cafeteria. Since it was a nice day, the students were allowed to eat outside. The five took a table that was in the shade of one of the few trees in the schoolyard.

"How do you guys like your classes so far?" Sam asked.

Danielle swallowed a bite of her food before answering. "They're okay. Mrs. Malby's very," she searched for a word that didn't sound rude, "odd."

"You got Malby? She just started this year," Tucker said. "Who else ya got?"

Since Danielle had her mouth full, Shy pulled out her schedule and slid it across the table. The three older teens leaned in to look.

"Economics, Malby. Math, Felucca. Science, Vindant. Gym, Tetslaff. English, Lancer. Art, Prisma. History, Catarwel," Sam read aloud.

Danielle swallowed her food. "And I've got Quin for French," she added.

"I've heard Caterwel's pretty strict," Tucker remarked. "Get a seat in the back, keep your heads down, and don't say a word."

Shy quirked a brow and gave him a pointed look.

"Uhhhh….." the dark skinned teen sputtered for a minute before Shy giggled. Tucker blinked, then slowly grinned. "You're messing with me," he accused, pointing his fork at her.

"Easily done," Danny commented lightly, spooning some yogurt into his mouth. Tucker glared at him, and his best friend grinned teasingly.

"Hey Shy, you got any led?" Sam asked, looking up from her salad. "I'm on my last stick, and Haling always makes us write tons of notes."

"That's what you get for taking Environmental Science," Tucker told her.

Sam punched him in the arm.

"Most guys have to have a sister to get beat up by a girl," the dark skinned boy muttered.

The others laughed and Shy opened her bag to retrieve some pencil led. Danielle peered into peach haired girl's bag. "Uh, Shy, didn't you put your Economics book back in your locker?" she asked.

Shy nodded and handed Sam a few sticks of led.

"Then what's this?"

Shy looked over as Danielle held up a hardcover textbook with the city of Washington on the cover. She gasped and snatched the book from the black haired girl and groaned in dismay.

"Calm down, Shy," Danny said gently. "There's still time before the bell rings. Just run and switch 'em out."

Shy shot off like a rocket towards the school doors the minute the words were out of his mouth.

"Is she always like that?" Tucker asked, looking at Danielle.

The black haired girl shrugged and took a sip of her drink. "Only when it comes to first impressions."

"Huh. Well, I've got get going. Odalin wanted me to look at something in the computer lab before class," Tucker said, rising from his seat and slinging his bag over his shoulder.

Danielle raised her fork in the air. "Geek Squad, go!"

The older boy tossed his empty cup at her.

* * *

Shy slid a little on the smooth tile floor of the school as she turned the corner and into the hall where her and Danielle's lockers were.

She quickly dialed her combination and sighed with relief when she saw the red, white, and blue cover of her history book.

She was in the process of closing her locker and putting her History book in her bag when a hand reached out and grabbed her arm. The peach haired girl's bag, books, and notepad clattered to the floor as she was yanked back. Shy blinked in confusion at the arms locked around her waist in a death grip. She immediately squirmed, but the arms only tightened.

Looking up, she saw her captor. Or rather, captors. A Hispanic girl with long, black hair that had a slight wave to it. It was pulled out of her face with pink barrettes, revealing blue green eyes with what Shy considered far too much mascara, making them look narrower then they probably were. She wore a pink tee that didn't cover her midriff, and a pair of light blue capris with dainty white shoes.

The other was also a girl, but had fair skin with long, straight blonde hair pulled back with orange flower barrettes, showing her teal eyes. She wore a white shirt with orange trim, red capris, and the same white shoes as the other girl.

Shy suddenly felt like a trapped puppy being held by a possessive five year old that refused to let go.

The dark haired girl smiled at her, but it looked false. "You must be one of the new students we heard about!" There was a touch of Hispanic accent in her voice, but the way she spoke and dressed, reminded Shy of a valley girl from a tv show.

Shy gulped nervously and nodded, the look of triumph the two girls exchanged making her uneasy.

"I'm Paulina, and this is Star," the dark haired girl said, gesturing at the blonde girl with a nod.

Shy recognized the first name as being one of the few people that knew Danny's secret. Whether that was good or bad, she wasn't sure.

Still, she gave a small, timid wave, and both older girls suddenly squealed in unison. Baffled, Shy winced as Paulina lifted her off the ground for a minute. "You are so adorable!" she exclaimed, furthering Shy's thoughts of feeling like a puppy trapped by a five year old. "We'd love for you to hang out with us after school, right Star?"

The blonde nodded with another false smile and Shy started shaking her head, trying to loosen Paulina's death grip on her. Neither older girl seemed to notice, and Shy started to worry. The bell was going to ring soon, and she had to get back outside to meet Danielle. Her notepad lay on the floor in front of her locker, along with her bag and text books, and the two girls holding her did not seem to be paying any attention to her hand gestures. Or her squirming, for that matter.

Shy briefly considered simply forcing Paulina off (with her ghost strength it wouldn't be very hard), but despite the death grip the girl had on her, Shy saw her fragile arms and was worried they'd snap in half if she forced them off. Going intangible was out of the question. She couldn't let anyone get suspicious of her being a ghost! Despite what Danny said about Paulina already knowing he was Phantom, Shy didn't want to give anyone reason to believe she might not be human or a halfa.

Someone cleared their throat.

Paulina and Star turned, and Shy strained once more against Paulina's grip, but it did not loosen. Paulina frowned. "Why are you here?" she asked.

Shy immediately perked as a familiar voice responded. "I go to school here."

Shy looked up and felt a sigh of relief escape her when she saw Sam standing there, hands on her hips.

Paulina arched a brow. "Your locker's not over here," the Hispanic girl said. "Go crawl back under your rock," she added with a sneer.

Sam's eyes narrowed and Shy blinked. Obviously, Paulina and Sam did not get along.

Instead of leaving, Sam bent down and started picking up Shy's books off the floor. Shy stretched her arm out as far as she could, trying to make a grab for her notepad as Sam held it out. Paulina suddenly jerked her back, away from Sam, and Shy gave a small, almost undetectable, yelp.

"Claws off, goth girl. We're not letting you taint this poor girls mind with your gruesome ways," Paulina snapped.

Sam slowly stood, tucking Shy's notepad under her arm. "So, she's your friend?" she asked coolly.

Shy's eyes widened at the Goth girls words. What was she doing?

Paulina nodded, and Sam smirked. "What's her name?"

For a second, the Hispanic girl blinked and looked stumped. Then she looked down at Shy. "What was it again?"

Shy rolled her eyes and wrote the letters S H Y in the air with her finger.

"Maria," Paulina stated.

Shy smacked herself on the forehead and the corner of Sam's mouth twitched, holding back a chuckle, then shook her head. "Her names Shyann, Paulina. And you only want to be her friend because she's Danny's cousin."

Shy saw the slight smirk on Paulina's face for a second before it vanished into a wide, fake smile.

Yup, definitely a puppy trapped by a five year old. A selfish, scheming, five year old.

"Whatever do you mean?" the Hispanic girl asked innocently.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Give me a break. You know she's Danny's cousin, and you want to use her as an excuse to get to Danny," the Goth girl said coolly.

Paulina scoffed, stuck her nose in the air and turned on her heel, forcing Shy to turn as well. Shy craned her neck and sent Sam a pleading look around Paulina's arm.

Sam winked and held her finger to her lips, signaling Shy to be quiet. Shy frowned, un-amused by the gesture, as the Goth girl disappeared around the corner.

Confused, Shy waited anxiously for something to happen. Paulina and Star were examining her hair and saying something about curls (Shy cringed inwardly), when Sam came back, keeping one arm out of sight behind the wall.

The two valley girls (Shy officially labeled them this) looked up, frowning at the Goth girl. "I thought you left," Paulina said coldly.

Sam smirked and jerked her arm out from behind the wall. There was a yelp, and two figures fell into view.

Shy's eyes light up with relief at the sight of her two cousins. Danny had stumbled foreword from the force of Sam's tug, and had, ungracefully, face planted the floor. Danielle, who had been right behind him, had narrowly avoided doing the same by sidestepping, and was helping her older cousin up.

Upon seeing Danny, Paulina's face light up with a huge smile. It actually looked genuine, to, Shy noted. The Hispanic girl batted her eyelashes flirtatiously. "Hi Danny," she cooed. Paulina shot her blonde companion a quick look, and Star hurriedly left the scene.

Danny quirked a brow in confusion. "Uh, hi, Paulina. I see you've met my cousin. One of them, anyway," he added.

Danielle was more direct with the matter. "Why are you holding her like that?" the young teen demanded.

Paulina blinked and looked down at Shy, as if she had temporarily forgotten she was there, and then smiled. "We were just getting to know each other," she replied, giving Shy a squeeze that made the younger girl wince.

Danielle noticed and took a step forward, but Danny held out an arm to stop her. Casually, he walked up to Paulina with a smile. The Hispanic girl batted her lashes at him, and Shy turned her periwinkle eyes up at him with a look that begged for help.

With Paulina busy smiling coyly at Danny, she failed to notice when the halfa grabbed Shy's wrist, turned her intangible, and pulled her out of Paulina's clutches. The second Shy became solid; she darted to Danielle and hid behind her twin.

Paulina didn't even notice her "catch" was gone until Danny looked over his shoulder at his younger cousins. The Hispanic girl blinked in surprise, looking down at her now empty arms.

Danny grinned. "Well, see ya," he said cheerfully, giving a small wave as he walked back to Sam and his cousins. Sam shot Paulina a smirk and Danielle a glare as the four turned the corner.

Sam handed Shy her books, which she had put in her bag, along with the girls notepad. Shy sighed with relief and took them; quickly scribbling a thank you on her pad before the bell rang.

Sam waved it off. "Just be glad I needed to grab another notebook from my locker."

Danielle and Shy quickly gave Danny a squeeze before dashing off to their next class. Danny shouted after them to meet him, Sam, and Tucker after school by the flagpole. The two girls waved their hands, signaling they had heard.

When Danielle and Shy entered Mr. Lancer's classroom, he almost looked surprised. He rubbed his eyes and blinked before telling the girl's their seats.

"Probably thought I was Danny," Danielle whispered and Shy nodded.

The girl's sat in seats across from each other, in the two center rows of desks, meaning another student sat on each girl's other side.

Two people were currently sitting in the desk next to Shy's. A boy with shaggy black hair and tanned skin leaned back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest. He wore a simple white shirt with jeans, and his dark emerald green eyes looked up at the girl perched on his desk.

The girl had shoulder length hazel nut hair that framed her face and highlighted her bronze colored eyes. She wore a pale green, long sleeve shirt and silver slacks. A blue headband was nestled in her hair, and she had a matching pair of blue hoop earrings.

"Come on, just tell me what you think," the girl was saying as the twins approached.

The boy sighed and looked a bit tired. "I told you, I think it's pretty."

"Buttttt?" the girl prompted.

"You know I'm no good at this kind of thing."

"You're taking art."

"That's different."

"Is not. You have to arrange colors in art. So what do you think of my color arranging here?"

The boy tilted his head towards the ceiling with exasperation. "I think it's great, like all your other ones. Try asking someone else, though. Get an outside, unbiased, opinion."

"So if you didn't like it, you wouldn't tell me because you're my friend."

The boy was silent before smacking a hand to cover his eyes. "Please don't make me answer that," he moaned.

The girl giggled and patted his shoulder. "I'm just teasing." She then looked up and noticed Shy and Danielle, who were putting their books on their desks. "Hey!" she exclaimed and leaned forward, grabbing Shy by the arm and tugging her over.

"Not _exactly_ what I meant," the boy muttered.

Shy blinked as she was whirled around to face the bronze eyed girl. "You too," the girl beckoned at Danielle.

Danielle jumped over a desk and stood beside Shy.

The girl picked up a picture that was on the desk and held it up. "What do you two think of this?" she asked.

The picture was a photo of a small white basket filled with flowers of various sizes and colors. Two large pink flowers sat in the center, with two smaller lavender flowers on either side. Tiny dark purple flowers and small pale orange rose like flowers dotted the green leaves.

The entire bouquet said _SPRING!_

"Wow, that's pretty. Did you make it?" Danielle asked.

The girl nodded and looked at Shy. "And you?"

Shy quickly scribbled a note and held it up.

**It's beautiful.**

The girl beamed. "Thanks! I'm Iris, by the way. This is Ammon," she nodded at the boy, who raised a hand in greeting. "I haven't seen you two around before, you new?" she asked.

"Yup, first day. We just moved here. I'm Danielle, this is Shyann."

"Oh! So you're the new students! You guys are twins, right?" Iris pointed a finger at each girl.

Danielle grinned and nodded. "Uh-huh. I'm older by six minutes."

Shy jabbed her in the arm. Danielle winced and rubbed it. "I mean five," she corrected.

Iris giggled. "Cool! And, let'see, you're mute, correct?" she asked Shy.

"Excuse her, she has a motor mouth," Ammon said quickly.

Iris propped her hands on her hips and frowned at him. Shy smiled and shrugged, waving it off.

"Ignore him, he's grumpy," Iris told them.

"You would be to if you were up all night," Ammon muttered.

Iris shook her head in exasperation. "I keep telling you:_ Sun_ equals, learning time. _Moon_ equals, _SLEEP._ She emphasized her words with hand gestures, ending by folding her hands together and resting her head on them.

Danielle smirked and Shy covered her mouth to stifle a giggle.

Ammon rolled his eyes, but he to was smiling in amusement.

_Tap tap tap._

The four looked to the front of the classroom. Mr. Lancer was rapping a ruler on his desk, calling for attention. "All right class, time to start. Take your seats," he ordered.

Iris hopped off Ammon's desk and she and Danielle took their seats. Ammon straightened in his and Shy sat down in hers.

"Open your books to page ninety-three. We will be starting William Shakespeare's, _Hamlet_."

There was a quiet thud as Danielle banged her head on her desk in dismay.

* * *

As it turned out, Ammon and Iris shared two classes with Danielle and Shy respectively. Ammon and Shy had art class, and Danielle and Iris had French class. Other than those and English, however, the four did not share any classes, and at seventh hour, Danielle and Shy were walking towards Room 613.

Mr. Catarwel was an older man; his short, silver hair was combed back, and didn't look like any stray piece would dare move. Grey eyes looked out from behind a pair of square glasses. He dressed like a typical teacher; brown button up shirt, dark red tie, and black slacks.

He was writing something down when the girls walked in. Without looking up, he pointed towards the back of the classroom. "Find a seat and sit down," was all he said.

Danielle and Shy did so, following Tucker's advice and taking two desks near the back.

A few minutes later, Mr. Caterwel looked up at the clock. He rose from his desk, shut the door, and returned to his desk to take roll call.

"When I call your name, answer with a simple 'here'. If you have a friend who is not here, I do not want _you_ to tell me where they are or if they're coming. I want to know if _you_ are present."

The rest of the class apparently had heard this speech many times before, as they all looked bored.

Danielle scoffed quietly. "Such a pleasant first impression," she muttered.

Mr. Caterwel then proceeded to call the students in alphabetical order. Each one replied with a flat "here", except for one boy who was absent. Then Mr. Caterwel reached the twin's names.

"Fenton, Danielle."

"Here."

"Fenton, Shyann."

Shy raised her hand in the air.

"Fenton, Shyann," Mr. Caterwel repeated.

Shy waved her hand.

Mr. Caterwel looked up from his desk with a frown. "Fenton, Shyann."

Confused, Shy waved her hand again, rising a little in her seat.

Mr. Caterwel's frown deepened. "Miss Fenton, when I call your name, I expect an answer."

Shy's hand froze and she blinked. She looked over at Danielle, who shrugged in confusion.

Mr. Caterwel had noticed the exchange and stood from his desk. "Miss Fenton, I called your name. Stop chatting with your sister and answer."

Shy recoiled. Quickly, she scribbled a note and held it up for him to see.

Mr. Caterwel moved around to the front of his desk and briskly walked down the aisle of students until he was at Shy's. All eyes turned as his shadow loomed over her. Shy's cheeks turned pink as everyone starred at either her or the teacher. Danielle in particular was watching Mr. Caterwel through narrowed eyes.

"I asked for an answer, not a note. Passing notes is not allowed in my class, Miss Fenton," he said firmly.

Shy gulped and tried to show him the notepad again, but his eyes narrowed the second her hand moved. She immediately froze.

"Now, are you going to answer or shall I call the principle?" Mr. Caterwel asked coolly.

Panic showed plainly on Shy's face as the silence ticked by. After several minutes passed, Mr. Caterwel turned back to the front. "Very well. Miss Fenton, please report to the principal's office."

That did it for Danielle.

Slamming her hands on her desk, she stood and glared at the teacher. "She's mute! That note _is_ her answering you!" she exclaimed angrily.

Shy blinked and looked over at Danielle. Everyone else did, too. Mr. Caterwel slowly turned back around, his mouth in a set line. "I see. Then _you're_ the Fenton I received the notice about."

The temperature in the room dropped with every word he said, and Shy shrank down in her seat, unsure if he was expecting her to confirm that.

"In the future, Miss Fenton, I will expect you to answer for your sister," Mr. Caterwel spoke to Danielle, not even looking at Shy anymore.

Both girls frowned in confusion, but Danielle nodded slowly.

Mr. Caterwel sharply turned around and went back to the front, where he proceeded with roll call.

Shy quickly discovered Mr. Caterwel, for whatever reason, did not like her. At _all_.

When Mr. Caterwel asked a question, and Shy knew the answer to it, he would ignore her and call on someone else. The first two times, Shy thought it was just the typical "teacher didn't pick you", but near the end of the hour, Shy had raised her hand for five of the questions he asked, and he'd ignored her. Even the one when she was the only one with her hand raised!

Mr. Caterwel would look her way, and then continue on like she wasn't there. Danielle noticed this to, and her frown deepened every time it happened. By the end of class, she was scowling like a bad tempered dog ready to lash out and bite the first person who tried to approach her.

"What's his problem?" she hissed as soon as they left the classroom. "Coming down on you like that because of roll call!" With far more force than required, Danielle yanked her locker open. The door banged against the locker next to it. Angrily, she began stuffing her books into her bag while continuing her rant. "I mean _really_! How many Fentons can there _be_ at this school? Obviously _I_ wasn't 'the' Fenton he got that note about! I answered him! And we were the only two Fenton's _in_ that class! That's just unfair, no matter how you look at it! I oughta go burn his foot off, he certainly deserves it," she muttered under her breathe.

Shy slowly closed her locker and held up her notepad. Danielle paused, one hand resting on her locker, no doubt preparing to slam it, and read the words on the paper.

**Maybe he was just having a bad day.**

Danielle starred at her in disbelief. "Shy, he chewed you out in front of the class for not answering _roll call_. What kind of teacher gets _that_ ticked about _roll call_?"

Shy just shrugged and leaned against her locker while Danielle double checked her bag to make sure she had everything. She then slammed the poor metal door shut.

**You break that, Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack have to pay for it.**

Danielle winced. "Noted. C'mon, let's go find Danny."

* * *

Danny, Sam, and Tucker were waiting by the flagpole when the girls came out.

"Sup freshy's," Tucker greeted.

Danielle wrinkled her nose. "_Freshy_?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "It's a lame nickname some seniors came up with for freshman a few years ago. Tucker's trying to bring it back."

"I can see why it died," Danielle remarked.

"So how'd Lancer treat you two?" Danny asked as they started walking.

"He was fine, but I think he thought I was you for a minute," Danielle grinned. "He looked kinda surprised to see me."

Danny chuckled. "I'll bet."

"What about Caterwel?" Tucker cocked his head at the younger girls. "He as tough as everyone says?"

Danielle scowled. "Worse."

It only took a few minutes to tell what had happened, and the three older teens looked as disturbed by the teacher's attitude as Danielle had been angered by it.

"You okay, Shy?" Danny asked the peach haired girl gently.

Shy gave a small smile and nodded.

**It's not the first time. I'm fine, really.**

The three older teens exchanged a look. "It's happened before?" Sam asked cautiously.

Shy shrugged.

**This one girl at my old school. She made it a point to treat me like crap.**

Danielle snorted. "Bah, screw 'em both. Onto more interesting subjects!" she declared, pumping a fist in the air. This made the others smile, and Shy mimicked her twin by raising her fist in the air as well.

Grinning, Danielle trotted ahead and jumped up on a small wall that lined up with the sidewalk. She held her arms out for balance and as she walked started humming a tune.

"_You gotta pray and swing, watch it till, it's goin, goin, it's gone! _

_Oh, ohho, ohh, oh, oh, oh_

_Ho, ohh, oh, _

_Oh, ohho, ohh, we need a home run!"_

* * *

_"likeable and seemed to like the girls as much as they liked " Can ya tell I love using that word? xD -Grammer fail-_

_Paulina's arms - One thing that always bugged me. No matter what way I looked at her, her arms just looked so fricking tiny! 0o _

_Mr. Caterwel - It scares me to say this, but he is based of a actual teacher. Shy's little incident with him is also based on a similar incident with the same teacher and a mute student. It happened in my brother's science class at college (he told me about it). _

_Ammon and Iris - Yay! You won't be seeing them much in **this** story, but you'll see a lot more of them in later fics. Follow the link in my profile to my DA page (**OrciaWish**) to find more info on them._

_I think that's everything for this chapter...Nah, I probably missed something, but oh well!_

_Kudos to you if you know the song! 8D_


	6. White Shield

The twins first week went by surprisingly smooth. No ghost attacks occurred and school went well.

Jazz had to leave on Thursday, but before she left she insisted on taking a new picture of the family for her dorm. They ended up taking two: one with just the Fentons, and one with Sam and Tucker included.

Danny drove Jazz to the airport (taking the Fenton thermos _with_ this time), and, still feeling guilty for crashing their older cousins homecoming, Danielle and Shy stayed home with Jack and Maddie.

* * *

While no ghost attacks did happen, people who had witnessed the fight with Skulker had been quick to spread the news of a second Phantom and a mysterious black and gold newcomer.

"Hm. _Phantom's from alternate dimensions_," Danielle mused after reading a small article in the paper a few days after her and Shy's appearance. "That's a new one."

The whole matter was resolved to the public eye during the twins third week of school. While walking home with Danny, Sam, and Tucker, a commotion erupted in the mall as they were passing it. Puffs of blue mist drifted from Danny and Danielle's mouths at the same time screams of "Ghost!" penetrated the air.

The five teens ran inside to find Technus wreaking havoc. The technology ghost had taken control of several washing machines and dryers, using them as a base for a new, large robot body. He used smaller electronic devises to form the arms and legs, and a desktop computer for a head.

"Interesting," Danielle remarked, quirking a brow at the odd creation.

"Observe later, let's go," Danny said, nodding at Tucker. The Techno Geek whipped out his PDA and aimed it in the direction of the robot. "Just stall him as long as you can," Tucker told him.

Danny nodded and darted into an empty store. The twins ran after him. There was a flash of white and seconds later, Danny Phantom floated in through the mall's glass ceiling.

"All right, let's get this over with," Danny called out, catching the ghost's, and crowds, attention.

"It's Phantom!" a lanky teen pointed at the halfa.

"Run you idiot! You're in the crossfire!" another teen grabbed his friend's arm and dragged him out of the way.

Technus turned to face Danny, his metallic body groaning as he did so. "Greetings, child! I, Technus, Manipulator of machines, Lord of all gadgetry, Wizard of integrated circuitry, am here to-!"

"Destroy me, be my undoing, fry my bacon, blah blah blah," Danny interrupted dryly, rolling his eyes at the ghost. "Can we skip to the part where I put you in the thermos?"

_BANG!_

Danny went flying into the wall as a blast of electricity hit him square in the chest. Concrete rained down from the wall and people scurried out of the way.

Groaning, Danny shook his head and glared at the technology ghost. "Take that as a _no_," he muttered.

His fists began glowing green, and Danny shot towards Technus, firing rapid ghost rays as he flew in circles around him.

The giant robot swung its arms around as it tried to catch him, but with little success. Growing angry, Technus began shooting bolts of electricity around the mall. The blasts went off in all directions as he tried to hit Danny. They smashed into the walls, shattered windows, and blew the floor apart.

A stray bolt shot towards a group of onlookers, who screamed and tried to scramble out of the way. Danny gasped and flew towards them, but he wasn't fast enough to make it in time.

Seconds before the bolt could crash, there was a flash of white and the bolt ricocheted, flying off and blasting a hole in the glass roof. Glass shards rained down on Technus' robotic head.

The people all starred open mouthed and Danny sighed with relief. Soul floated in front of the group, her hands outstretched and a large, glowing white shield in front of her.

Soul turned and saluted the people with a smile before sinking through the floor. The onlookers stared blankly at the spot where she disappeared.

Technus looked shocked himself, but quickly snapped out of it. Taking advantage of the moment, his hand shot towards Danny.

Danny whipped around and dove out of the way moments before the hand could grab him. Turning around, Danny fired a beam of ice, hitting Technus's arm and freezing it in place.

"Ha!" Danny yelled triumphantly.

"Don't be so quick to assume victory, child! I still have some tricks up my sleeve!" Technus shouted.

"How about some new lines?" a bored voice called out.

Technus looked up to see Danielle hovering above him. Soul floated next to her. Danielle was looking at him with distaste, while Soul looked more curious then anything.

"Seriously, dude. Who talks like that anymore? Besides, ya know, old people," the white haired girl remarked.

Technus starred at the two of them for a minute before looking at Danny. "So these are your prodigy's I've heard so much about! No matter! I, Technus, shall destroy all three of you!"

The "three" all blinked. "Huh?" the two halfa's said in unison while Soul cocked her head.

Technus raised his free arm and slammed it onto the icy coat that covered his other arm. The ice cracked. He hit it again, and the ice began to crumble.

"Crap," Danny muttered. He fired another ice ray at the metal arm. This time, the beam hit just as Technus slammed his arm on the first layer of ice, freezing both his arms together.

Technus growled and Danny starred in shock as he lifted the two ice encased arms and swung them around. The three ghost heroes dove out of the way as the ice block circled through the air.

"That all you got?" Danielle yelled in a mocking tone.

Technus' desktop head turned to face her. His eyes glowed green and shot a ray at the female halfa. The ray knocked Danielle through the last remaining window, shattering it and sending glass everywhere as the white haired girl disappeared inside the store.

Soul smacked a hand to her face in a "Not again", gesture before swerving to the side as Technus took a shot at her.

Soul's amber eyes flashed and a white orb appeared in her hand. She threw it at the robot's shoulder, blasting a lawn mower off the second the white orb made contact.

Danny flew towards where Sam and Tucker had taken cover behind a fallen piece of concrete. "How's the hacking coming?" he asked urgently.

Tucker bit his tongue in between his teeth in concentration. "Almost, got it…Aha!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "I'm in!"

At that moment, Technus' robot body began to quake and spark.

"W-wha-what-t-t-tsss hap-haaa-happening-g-g-g!" the technology ghost shouted.

"I'd say you got a bug in your system!" Danielle yelled, re-emerging from the store.

"Thi-this-s-s-s c-c-can't-t-t b-be-e!"

"Sam, if you don't mind," Danny said. The Goth girl grinned and pulled out the silver device from her bag. Flipping the switch on, she pointed it at the giant mass of metal. "Powering down!" she cried.

A beam of blue light shot towards and engulfed the robot. Technus shrieked as he was ripped out of his metal body and sucked into the small container. The robot collapsed, the metal parts and machines spilling all over the mall floor. Or what was left of it, anyway.

Sam latched the thermos lid in place with a grin and returned it to her bag.

Danny flew up to join Danielle and Soul. "Well, that was easy," Danielle said cheerfully.

Soul shot her a look.

The female halfa rolled her eyes. "Don't say it, I know," she muttered. "I'm reckless and need to think before I act, and all that stuff."

Just then, noise sounded beneath them and the three looked down. People who had _(foolishly)_ stuck around, and those that had come back, were cheering and waving at the three ghost heroes.

Danny smiled sheepishly and waved in return. Danielle grinned while Soul blushed a little and moved over an inch so she was partially hidden behind Danielle.

"You get used to it," Danny told her.

* * *

The news that Danny Phantom had taken on two sidekicks spread like a wildfire.

Danielle was not very pleased with the label of "sidekick".

"Well we're not!" she protested. "More like, trainees or something!"

Danny chuckled and shrugged helplessly. "It's the press. What ya gonna do?"

"Fill their cameras with slime."

"…It was a rhetorical question."

"I know," Danielle replied sweetly.

The news also spread through the ghost zone fairly quickly. Skulker had apparently spread the word that there was now more than one "ghost child" in Amity Park. Ghosts began appearing more regularly (_though thankfully, after school hours_), wanting to see if the newcomers posed as large a threat as Phantom did.

It was deemed quickly that, while neither ghost girl was _as_ powerful as Phantom, with time, they would surely be just as much of a threat. _Especially_ with Danny teaching them.

"We've been here, what, three weeks, and we're already a threat?" Danielle paused and grinned. "Sweet!"

There was one ghost, however, who misunderstood about Phantom's prodigy's. While the rest of ghost zone thought of them as sidekicks, the Box Ghost overshot the mark a little.

"OFFSPRING?" Danielle had screeched when he announced to the heavens that Phantom's "offspring" would not be able to defeat him and his boxes of doom. "YOU THINK WE'RE HIS DAUGHTER'S? WHAT'S _WRONG_ WITH YOU?"

Danny had halted mid-flight and simply floated there with a blank stare as his face reddend and he sputtered incoherent objections.

Soul had winced and looked at the Box Ghost with pity as Danielle's eyes flashed and she began shooting his boxes from the sky.

* * *

The sun dawned Saturday morning, and the day promised to be warm and clear of any bad weather.

Maddie and Jack decided to work in the lab, while the twins lounged in the den watching tv. Danny stayed in his room on his computer talking with Tucker and Sam for most of the morning.

At about noon, Danny received an e-mail from a familiar friend. He grinned as he read its contents to Tucker and Sam, then the three arranged to meet at the park in ten minutes.

Grabbing his coat from his closet, Danny went downstairs and poked his head in the living room. Danielle was sprawled on her back on the couch, watching the tv upside down. Shy sat curled in the chair by the window. Both looked very bored as an ad for sneakers played on the tv.

"C'mon guys, we're going out for a bit," Danny announced.

Both girls perked and Danielle shot upright, nearly losing her balance as she looked over at him. "Where we going?"

"The park. We'll meet Sam and Tucker there, do a quick patrol, and then there's someone I want you two to meet," he paused. "Well, you've met her Danielle."

The black haired girl cocked her head. "Who is it?"

"Valarie."

Danielle pumped a fist in the air. "Sweet! Where's she been, anyway? I haven't seen her around at all."

Danny smiled and tossed his younger cousin's their hats. Maddie had bought them each one when the temperature started to drop. They had come with matching scarfs to. Danny's was deep blue, Danielle's was a lighter shade of blue, and Shy's was lavender.

"She went on a business trip with her Dad. They just got back last night," he replied.

After Danny called down to the lab to inform his parents they were leaving, the three set out. It took them about five minutes to get to the park. As soon as Sam and Tucker got there _(on their scooters), _the three Fenton's transformed and the teens split up to patrol. Danny and Sam went uptown, while Tucker, Danielle, and Soul went downtown.

After about an hour, they regrouped back at the park. Danny had told Valarie to meet them there around one, so they had a few minutes before she'd be arriving.

The Fenton's didn't transform back. Instead they floated just above the trees. Danny kept a lookout for Valarie while Danielle did a series of small loops in the air.

Soul watched Danielle, when suddenly she perked. Her brow furrowing, the ghost girl cocked her head and looked to her left.

"What's up, Soul?" Danielle questioned.

Soul held her hand to her ear, signaling she heard something. Then, without any more of an explanation, she flew off in the direction she'd been looking.

Danny frowned slightly and looked at Danielle. The younger halfa shrugged in confusion.

* * *

Maddie frowned at the screen in front of her. She and Jack had been in the lab all day, going over Shy's blood test results. It had taken a little longer then they'd expected for the results to happen, and what they showed had both ghost experts stumped.

"This makes no sense," she muttered, reaching for her notes and looking through them. Jack walked up behind her and squinted at the screen. "Any luck?" he asked.

The woman shook her head. "These reading's, something's off," Maddie told him, biting her lip. "But I can't figure out what, exactly. It's almost like, there's something, _extra,_ in Shy's ectoplasm."

Jack frowned in confusion. "Extra?"

His wife nodded, her brow furrowed in thought. Suddenly, it hit her. Her eyes widened as her notes fell to the floor with a clatter.

At the noise, Jack looked at his wife. "Madds?" he asked with concern.

Maddie starred at the screen in front of her, eyes filled with shock. "Jack, did any of the kids take their phones?" she asked quietly.

"Tucker did, I think. Why-?"

"Call him."

Jack blinked. "What-"

Maddie whipped around to face him. "Jack! Get a hold of the kids _NOW_!"

* * *

"I don't hear anything," Danny muttered quietly, tilting his head. Danielle, Sam and Tucker did the same, but none of them heard anything unusual either.

"Guess we go after her and find out," Sam said, shrugging her shoulders.

Tucker's pocket vibrated just then and the dark skinned teen pulled the device form his pocket. Seeing the caller ID, he flipped it open.

"Hey, Mrs. Fenton. 'sup? Soul? Yeah, she just flew off a little bit ago. Said she heard something. We were just about to follow her. Valarie? Uh, no, we haven't seen her yet. How co-"

His sentence was abruptly cut off as a piercing scream ripped through the air.

* * *

_Author's Notes_

_I knew I missed something back in chpt 3..._

_**Soul's Siren Song** - I can't have her just use it and, _bam,_ knock the bad guys out. What fun is that? So, here is the full explanation of that attack._

_Soul can control how effective the attack will be. When she used it on Danny, she made the effect very low. That's why Danielle was able to wake him up so easily. If she had gone all out on him, he'd been konked out for a good few hours. Also, like Danny's ghostly wail takes a lot of energy, Soul's siren song also requires a lot of energy in order to be effective enough. If she wanted to, she could knock someone out for about a week. Of course, that'd take waaaay too much energy and _she'd_ also be knocked out for a week for using that much energy. Also, she has to be standing/floating still in order to use it. She can't do it if she's flying around dodging attacks._

_Now, onward! The blood test is back, and apparently, the results aren't good._


	7. Night Lights

"SHY!"

Danielle shrieked and shot off like a rocket in the direction of the scream before the other three could blink.

"_Tucker? What's going on?_" Maddie's voice asked sharply over the phone.

"We just heard Soul scream," Tucker replied as Danny flew after Danielle. He and Sam ran after them, Tucker's grip tightening on the phone to keep from dropping it.

There was a gasp on the other end, and the dark skinned teen felt his stomach clench uneasily. "Mrs. Fenton?"

"_Tucker, listen to me. Once you find Soul, no matter her condition, get her back to FentonWorks immediately._"

Tucker frowned slightly. "Her condition? What do-"

"_Immediately!_" Maddie snapped.

Tucker recoiled. "Yes ma'am," he said quickly. He heard soft muttering before a click and a dial tone, signaling Maddie had hung up on him. Stowing the phone back in his pocket, an uneasy chill went up the teen's spine as he ran.

Sam suddenly slid to a halt, causing the Techno Geek to run into her and knock his glasses askew. Correcting them, Tucker stepped around Sam and gasped at the scene before him.

Soul lay on the ground, curled in a ball and clutching her side. A hissing sound drifted in the air, and Tucker's hands flew to his mouth in shock as he realized the sound was coming from Soul.

Her skin was _burning_.

Green blood oozed from the ghost girls side, covering her hand and dripping onto the ground. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her face wrenched with pain.

Danielle was kneeling on the ground beside Soul, her electric green eyes wide with distress as she gently pushed some hair out of Soul's face. The female halfa was murmuring words to her twin, no doubt trying to distract her from the pain. "Shy, come on, look at me. Shy, look at me. I'm right here, just look at me, look at me."

Danny stood next to his younger cousins, shock written all over his face. A few feet behind him, was an equally shocked looking Valarie. Dressed in her usual yellow outfit, one of her signature ghost hunting guns hung limp at her side. The tip was still smoking from a fresh shot as she stared at the three Fentons.

Tucker shook his head to snap himself out of shock. "Danny!"

The ghost boy looked up at him.

"Get Soul back to your house! Your Mom's orders," the dark skinned teen added when Danny just stared at him.

This seemed to bring Danny from his stunned state. He nodded and kneeled down next to Soul. With Danielle watching anxiously, he gently scooped Soul in his arms. She whimpered softly in pain, but otherwise did not protest. Danny flew up and off towards home. Danielle immediately followed.

Tucker and Sam exchanged a glance before looking at Valarie. The girl looked very distressed and confused. Tucker walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Come on," he nodded his head after the three ghost heroes, "you can tell us what happened on the way."

When Valarie looked at him with wide eyes, he added quietly. "Please?"

* * *

Danny flew as fast as he could back to FentonWorks. The entire time, Danielle kept up with him, her eyes locked on Soul's limp form in his arms. It was a miracle she didn't crash into anything.

Once they reached home, Danny didn't bother with the door or any of the open windows. Turning himself and Soul intangible, he went through the roof and floors straight into the lab with Danielle right behind him. Maddie and Jack were waiting there, and both hurried forward the second Danny's feet touched the floor.

Maddie directed Danny over to a large examination table. Very gently, Danny laid Soul on it. She winced and gave a small whine, then fell silent.

"Danny, Danielle, go upstairs and wait," Maddie directed.

The two Phantoms looked at her and Danielle opened her mouth to protest. Maddie cut her off with a gentle, but firm look and the female halfa cast one last worried look at Soul before slowly turning towards the stairs.

Danny followed her just as slowly. Both could hear Jack and Maddie's voices carrying up the staircase.

"Soul, honey, let me see it," Maddie's soft voice said.

There was a moment of silence, in which Danny knew his mother was gently easing Soul's hand off the wound. He and Danielle stopped at the door when they heard a gasp. The voices after that were too low to understand.

Danny and Danielle went into the den, changing back into their normal forms. Danny sat down on the arm of one of the chairs, his brow furrowed with concern. Danielle stood a few feet from the door, chewing her bottom lip and her eyes never straying from the door.

A few minutes later, Tucker, Sam, and Valarie showed up. Sam and Tucker had told Valarie all about Danielle and Shy on the way over, so the dark skinned girl had a better idea of what was going on.

They joined the Fenton cousins in the den, though Valarie hesitated for a minute. Danny gave her a small smile; Danielle didn't even look at her. Though this was not an act of anger; the black haired girl just continued to stare at the door with worry. She hadn't even noticed the older teens come in.

Sam sat down in the chair Danny was perched on, while Valarie and Tucker sat on the couch. After a moment or two of uneasy silence, Danny cleared his throat and looked at Valarie.

"What did you do?" The question was not one of accusation or fury; it was one of concern and fear.

Valarie wrung her hands in her lap. "I was coming to meet you guys, like you said, and I heard this noise. It was like, some whining, high pitched, sound. I thought it might be a ghost, so I went towards it. Then I saw, a flash of black and the ecto-tracker on my gun went off. I have it set to know your signature Danny, so I knew it wasn't you. I fired and, I heard a scream. Next thing I know, there's this girl on the ground bleeding green, and you and her," she waved a hand at Danielle, "were there looking as shocked as I was."

"I didn't know you had a gun that could, uh, burn, ghosts," Danny said slowly.

"I don't," Valarie replied. "It wasn't even one of my good guns. It was that old stunner. You've been hit with it, Danny. You know that thing doesn't hurt that much. It paralyzes the target."

Danny winced slightly at the memory of when Valarie had accidently missed the ghost they had been chasing and the shot hit him instead. He had been unable to move for three hours.

"Are you sure?" Sam asked carefully.

Valarie nodded and reached into the bag she was carrying. Pulling out a small, silver and red pistol that looked like the ones Danny's parents had invented, she held it out for them all to see.

Danny recognized the gun that had rendered him unable to move. Frowning, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Could it have malfunctioned?" he questioned, looking at Tucker.

The Techno Geek shook his head. "I looked at it on the way over. It's in great condition, no glitches or anything. It works fine."

"This shouldn't have hurt Shy at all," Sam muttered, toying with her necklace.

"The gun's not broken," a quiet voice told them.

The older teens looked up. Danielle still faced the door, her arms wrapped around her torso.

"How do you know?" Tucker asked.

Slowly, the black haired girl turned to face them. Her bangs hung in front of her face, hiding her blue eyes from sight. "It wouldn't have mattered what kind of gun it was," she murmured.

Danny blinked and looked at his younger cousin curiously. "What do you mean?"

Danielle turned her head slightly, and Danny noticed that, along with worry and concern, there was guilt in the younger teen's eyes. "We…should have told you before…"

"Told us what?" Sam questioned, her hand paused with her necklace charm between her fingers.

Danielle bit her lip and twisted her ponytail in her hands. "We…we were going to tell you after the blood test was finished…"

Danny had a sudden, bad feeling. "Tell us what?" he asked slowly.

The black haired girl glanced over her shoulder at the lab door and Danny rose from his seat.

Gently placing his hands on his younger cousin's shoulders, he leaned down a little so he could look her in the eye. "Danielle, what didn't you tell us?"

Danielle sighed shakily before answering him. "Shy's…well, we're not sure what, but…this happened once before….a ghost hunter was in the same town as us and cornered us after we had just fought a ghost…It shot at us, and… we both got hit, but Shy…for some reason it hurt her more then it hurt me…she just collapsed and started screaming…it freaked the hunter out and he ran off…guess he was a rookie…but Shy couldn't move her arm very well for a while after that…"

Danny frowned and looked over at Sam and Tucker. The two had the same worried expression he did.

"How can something hurt her more than it would you?" Sam wondered, her brow furrowed.

"Maybe because she's a ghost, and you're both only half?" Tucker suggested.

"That shouldn't matter," Valarie said. "Then it would have had the same effect on the other ghosts I've used it on. But it didn't."

"She's never been hit head on before," Danielle squeaked frightfully. "The hunter just nicked her arm, and it hit the two of us…she didn't take the full blow of it."

Danny pulled Danielle into a comforting hug then, wrapping his arms around his younger cousin. She returned the gesture gratefully.

* * *

The minutes ticked by slowly as the teens waited in the Fenton's living room. After a half hour, Valarie went to call her Dad and explain she might be home later then she had planned.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker ended up taking up the whole couch. Or, Danny and Sam took up one end and Tucker took up the rest by stretching himself out. Valarie sat in the chair closest to the couch and Danielle paced back and forth in front of the lab door. Every five minutes, she'd pause and look up, then resume her pacing.

An hour later _(though it felt much longer to the five teens)_, Jack came up the stairs. All heads looked up when he appeared.

He smiled.

There was a universal sigh of relief around the room, particularly from Danielle. The black haired girl was first to race down the stairs, with the older teens behind her. There was a flash of white just as the five teens came to the bottom of the stairs.

Shy sat on the examination table, gingerly holding a hand to her side. Maddie, who was standing beside the table, swatted her hand and told her to leave the bandages alone.

Danielle darted forward and threw her arms around her twin. Shy yelped and winced.

Maddie chuckled. "Easy, Danielle, she's still a bit sore."

The black haired girl released her hold on Shy and stepped back. Aside from looking a bit pale, Shy looked fine.

"How'd you fix her, Mom?" Danny asked, leaning forward and ruffling Shy's hair.

"Special stitches your father and I created. She'll need to keep them on for a few days, but, combined with her naturel ghost healing abilities, she'll be just fine."

Jack came back down the stairs, and rejoined his wife over at the computer.

Valarie cleared her throat awkwardly, causing everyone to look at her. "How…how did my gun, hurt her, exactly?" the dark skinned girl asked.

Shy gave Danielle a guilty look, which Danielle replied with by whispering something in her twins' ear.

Maddie gave a small cough, which caught the twins' attention. "As you know, ghosts have within them an energy core that they can access and use pure ecto energy in their weapons and or attacks. Us humans must find alternate means to use ecto energy. However, we cannot use pure ecto energy due to the fact that if pure ecto energy comes in contact with matter it becomes highly destructive-"

"Kaboom," Tucker muttered under his breath. Sam elbowed him in the ribs.

"Which means we have to find other ways," Maddie continued. "Every human made ghost weapon has its own ghost portal inside it. The portal taps into pure ecto energy directly from the ghost zone and focus's it, allowing us humans to use it as ammo."

"What does this have to do with Shy?" Danielle questioned.

"I'm getting to that." Frowning slightly, Maddie paused before going on. "We were looking over the results of Shy's blood test, and they were very…unusual."

Danny blinked. "Unusual?"

"Unusual how?" Sam asked.

"While her ectoplasm is normal for a ghost in most ways, there seem to be a few, extra, things mixed in," Maddie explained.

Shy cocked her head and frowned in confusion.

"You make it sound like she's some kind of soup," Danielle commented.

A small smile flickered across Maddie's lips. "We ran a few further tests, and got the same results. One test did, however, help us identify one thing."

Turning around, the woman picked up some papers off the desk. "It appears there is an unknown, chemical of some sort, in Shy's ectoplasm. We don't know what it is, we're working on running some more tests, or how it got there."

"And does this chemical, have anything to do with what happened?" Tucker asked.

"Actually, it explains exactly what happened."

Six pairs of eyes blinked and stared at her in surprise.

"As I said earlier, human made ghost weapons tap into pure ecto energy and focus it. This causes a change in the energy quality in a way that is usually minor enough that it doesn't really matter. However, because of this chemical in Shy, for whatever reason, the slight change in the energy reacts with the chemical. And not in a good way," Maddie added with a sigh.

The teens all looked dumbfounded.

"So, basically what you're saying is, the chemical reacting to the energy causes the blast to hurt Shy more than it would a normal ghost," Tucker said slowly.

Maddie nodded and the Techno Geek stared blankly at her.

"What else was in her blood, besides the chemical?" Sam asked.

"We don't know yet. We're working on it."

Shy looked at her hand during this short exchange. Her brow was furrowed in confusion and fear.

Danielle noticed and hastily changed the subject. "Let's go back upstairs, huh?" she suggested.

Shy slowly slid off the table, wincing slightly, and started walking towards the stairs. Danielle fell in step beside her, and everyone else followed.

Once they were back in the den, wanting to further distract her twin, Danielle pulled Valarie forward. "You two haven't formally met! Valarie, Shyann. Shy, Valarie."

The older girl hesitated before giving a small, tentative smile and holding out her hand. Shy stared at it for a second before slowly accepting the handshake.

"I'm…really sorry about, shooting you," Valarie said awkwardly.

Shy blinked and gave her an understanding smile, waving her hand to brush the matter aside.

"She forgives you," Danielle confirmed with a grin.

* * *

Later that night, after Valarie, Sam, and Tucker had gone home and the Fentons had all gone to bed, FentonWorks was very quiet.

Well, _most_ of the Fentons had gone to bed.

In the twins' room, a pale glow emitted from one of the beds. Shy sat cross legged on the bed, the blue blankets tossed over her head into a makeshift tent, starring at one hand while the other glowed softly.

She frowned as she shifted, wincing slightly and glaring at her waist where the bandages were. Gingerly, she lifted her shirt just enough so she could see the white materiel around her torso. Clean, white, and crisp.

At least she wasn't bleeding through them. The stitches were doing their job.

Which they wouldn't _have to_ be doing if she hadn't been dumb enough to fly off like that!

Her gaze hardening, Shy growled low in her throat and let her shirt drop back down. What had she been thinking? So she had heard something. Whoop de frickin' do! She'd been so careful about never going off like that before in fear something _like_ this _would_ happen!

Now it had.

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Shy scowled and flopped back on her bed, which only resulted with her head banging against the head board. She shot back up; her hand ceasing to glow from the unexpected impact.

"I knew that'd happen."

Shy yanked the blankets off her head and saw Danielle, one arm propped up against her chin, looking calmly at her from her own bed. Shy frowned slightly and pointed at her.

Danielle shrugged. "Knew you wouldn't fall asleep right away," she cocked her head slightly, her messy bangs falling over one eye. "You sound like a cat when you growl, ya know."

Shy blinked, temporally distracted by the random comment, before slouching and looking down at her hands.

Danielle sighed quietly and threw back her own blankets, walking over and sitting down on her twins' bed. "You're kicking yourself for getting hit, aren't you?"

Shy nodded, glaring at her hands in frustration.

"You didn't do anything wrong. You heard something, so you went to investigate. If it had been an attacking ghost, would you still be this ticked off?"

Shy seemed to consider this for a moment before shaking her head.

"See? And now we know why that stuff hurts you so much, and we know Uncle Jack and Aunt Maddie can fix you up if it ever happens again," Danielle told her.

Something flickered across Shy's face, and the black haired girl noticed it. "The whole chemical thing is bugging you to, isn't it?" she said quietly.

Shy gave a small nod, tilting her head enough for Danielle to see the fear in her twins' periwinkle blue eyes.

Danielle was silent, having no idea how to comfort her sister when the news had shaken _her_ as well. Then, she smiled as she remembered something Shy had done a few times on their travels. It always perked them both up and took their minds off whatever had them down.

Crossing her legs and facing her twin, Danielle held up her hands. They softly began glowing green, small smoke like wisps floating from her fingers and into the air. The wisps curled and swayed like seaweed underwater in the air.

Shy looked up and slowly, a small smile spread across her face. She to, held up her hands, though cupped in front of her. A small orb of white light appeared in her hands, and then began emitting small sparks of light. The sparks drifted into the air, dancing around the green wisps and up to the ceiling, where they scattered over the girl's heads like stars.

Shy moved her hands, spreading them apart, and the orb stretched out into wisps like Danielle's green ones. Twirling her hands around in small circles, Shy's wisps danced and swayed like ribbons, emitting more sparks that floated around the two girls. After a few minutes of watching Shy, Danielle started mimicking her sister, making her own green wisps start to dance along with the white ones.

The wisps spun and twirled around each other like they were dancing together in the air above the girl's heads, showering sparks onto them.

Danielle grinned through the glittery atmosphere at Shy, whose eyes were lit up as they watched the lights swirl and wave around them.

* * *

"_Well?_"

"She came. Some other girl did to, though. Shot her out of the sky before I could do anything."

"_Blast. Forgot about her…._"

"Yeah, real bummer," he said flatly. "She was with that Phantom and some white haired girl. Looked like they were related."

"…_. Interesting_," the other voice murmured.

"Uh-huh, sure. I'll try again. What do you want me to do with the green switch?"

"_What switch?_" the other voice asked sharply.

"The one on the back of the remote with the red button. Under the flap."

"_Don't touch that!_" the voice snapped.

Rankhals quirked a brow at the phone in his hand. After a few minutes of silence, there was the sound of someone taking a deep breath.

"_That switch will only work once. It must be used at the precise time, or it will have been a complete waste. Do _not_ touch it until _I _tell you to_," Haast's voice ordered.

"Whatever you say."

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_Confused? Don't worry, more will be explained later. _

_And if you're not confused...then kudos to you for being able to understand the crazy workings of my mind!_

_Yes yes. This chpt shows that Danielle and Shy are very protective of each other. If their roles had been switched, Shy would have been just as worried sick about Danielle. (I've actually got a fic that shows Shy's protective side, but that will have to wait until this one's done)_

_The little moment with the girls in their room was inspired by something me and my siblings did once. It's amazing what you can do at night with a fan, some glitter, and glowsticks. -wistful sigh- Good times..._


	8. Archer, Flamethrower and,,,wait a minute

_I am sooooo sorry about the long wait, guys! Some stuff happened, and it put me in a bit of a funk where **nothing** I wrote sounded even **remotely** decent. _

_Please don't kill me D:_

* * *

Shy had to keep the stitches for three days and, much to her chagrin, Maddie refused to let her do any patrols until the wound was healed. It wasn't that Shy was trying to be reckless, no, she wanted the wound to heal.

She just didn't want to have to sit around for three days.

On Sunday, there was a ghost attack downtown. Danny, Danielle, Sam, and Tucker went off to take care of it, while Maddie made sure Shy stayed home.

Shy wasn't particularly pleased with having to stay behind, even if Danny had said the attack was probably some minor ghosts and they'd be able to handle them quickly. She did, however, learn how hard it was for Jack and Maddie to sit by and wait for their son to return from ghost fighting.

Shy grew a new sense of respect for them.

About an hour or two later, the four returned. Danielle plopped down on the couch next to Shy and launched into a play by play of what had happened.

While Danielle explained how two ghosts, _(one an archer, the other had a flamethrower)_, had been attacking downtown, Shy noticed Danny, Sam, and Tucker heading upstairs.

And Danny was frowning.

* * *

"Something's wrong."

"You've said that three times already, dude. Mind elaborating a little?"

Danny ran a hand through his hair, hissing through his teeth as he looked out the window.

Sam sat in the swivel chair by the desk, concern showing in her violet eyes as she watched her boyfriend start pacing again. Tucker was sprawled on his back on Danny's bed, fiddling with his PDA. The small beeping noises were the only sound in the room.

After several minutes, Sam stood up and snatched the device out of the Techno Geek's hands.

"Hey!" he protested, but Sam ignored him. Walking up to Danny, she grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to face her. "We're not mind readers, Danny. What's bugging you?"

The black haired boy blinked slowly before answering. "Those ghosts…that fight…something was off."

"Off how? Other than the fact they didn't seem to care about fighting," Tucker remarked.

"That's just it!"

Sam and Tucker blinked at their friend's exclamation. Danny crossed his arms, frowning deeply. "It was like they didn't _care_ about fighting us, like they just decided to show up and start wreaking havoc."

"Dude, that's what _most_ ghosts do."

Danny shook his head. "Not like that. More like…gah, I don't know! It was almost like they wanted someone, or something, specific to show up, and when me and Danielle got there instead, they just fought us as some kind of cover for what they were really doing there. They kept looking around, like they were waiting for something to happen. And then they just flew away, like whatever they were after wasn't showing up so they left."

His friends exchanged a look. "You think they were after something," Sam said.

"I just said that, didn't I?"

Tucker sat up on the bed, swinging his legs over the edge. "Let's think. Ghost with a flamethrower, that's a new one, but the last time we dealt with an archer ghost it was to distract you from finding out about Dora being a ghost and that whole beauty pageant ordeal."

Sam placed her hands on her hips and frowned. "What's that got to do with anything?"

Tucker held up his hands. "Just trying to find some connection here. Maybe Prince Aragon is looking for another bride or something?"

"I doubt it. Dora had him under control last time we saw her," Danny said.

"Okay, well, who else would want to distract you?"

"I don't think they were meant as a distraction," Danny said slowly. "If they were meant to distract, they wouldn't have kept looking around. They'd have been more concerned with keeping us busy."

"Fine, then they must be scouts of some kind. Who uses scouts?" Tucker questioned.

"Spectra has Bertrand," Sam said, "but that's just one scout."

"Nocturn has his sleepwalkers," Tucker added.

"I don't think those things can change shape though," Danny pointed out. "Plus, he uses dreams to power himself. What could he possibly be _looking_ for in Amity?"

Tucker shrugged.

"Walker could have hired them," Sam suggested.

"Or Freakshow could be controlling them," Tucker offered.

"No, Danny destroyed his staff."

"He could have found another one, or found some other way to control ghosts."

"Where would he get something like that?"

"How should I know? Where'd he get the first one?"

"He said it was a family heirloom."

"Well, where'd the _family_ find it then?"

"The point is," Danny interrupted, "They were looking for _something_ and obviously didn't find it this time. We're going to have to keep our eyes open."

The three exchanged serious looks.

Then Danielle's voice shouted up the stairs. "Oi, you three! Dinner's ready!"

* * *

Monday came and it turned out to be a special day at Casper High.

Danny explained to his younger cousins how Casper High would have a movie day once a month, where teachers would pick out two movies and their class would watch one, take a break, and then watch the other. Which teacher got which hour was chosen at random.

"Depending on what teacher you get stuck with, it can pretty cool," he told them. "Some of them make you take notes though, so make sure you have paper."

Unfortunately, the twins got Lancer's class.

"Fate has a cruel sense of humor," Danielle muttered as she slouched in her desk, watching Mr. Lancer set up the tv with the help of a student.

The only upside to being in Lancer's class was Ammon and Iris were in that class as well.

The first movie Lancer had picked for his class to watch was a 1996 version of _Romeo + Juliet_. Within seconds of the movie starting, all the students were staring at the tv with blank looks.

As soon as the movie ended, Danielle turned to Shy. "What did we just watch?" she asked stupidly.

"I _think_ it was a movie," Iris said slowly.

"I couldn't understand a word they said," Ammon stated.

Shy just shrugged.

With a sigh, Danielle picked up the pencil on her desk. "Shy, lemmie see your notes."

As Shy handed her twin the notebook, Ammon cocked his head curiously. "Didn't you take any?" he asked.

"My brain broke after ten minutes."

"I don't see how you two managed to take _any_ notes," Iris said. "I could barely follow what was going on."

"I hope he picked something better for the second movie," Ammon remarked, folding his arms on his desk and leaning forward.

"Yeah, like paint drying," Danielle muttered.

Shy giggled.

Danielle finished copying the notes and gave Shy back her notebook. Shy took it, frowned, and quirked a brow at her sister.

"What?" Danielle asked innocently.

Ammon looked over Shy's shoulder and laughed.

Around the edges of Shy's notes were various doodles of small people doing various things like jumping, climbing the lines of the paper, or dancing.

And each one was now sporting a familiar goatee and dreadlocks. There was even one hugging a bottle labeled "Rum".

"Well, I think we know what movie _someone_ wants to see," Iris teased, leaning over Danielle's desk to see the paper.

Danielle leaned back, linking her hands behind her head and giving them a cat like grin worthy of the famous pirate himself. "Got that right. Savvy."

Shy smirked and rolled her eyes. Iris started humming a tune and Ammon groaned half-heartedly, covering his eyes.

Danielle perked as she recognized the tune and grinned as the lyrics rolled off her tongue.

_Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!_

Iris joined in, and Shy covered her mouth to stifle a laugh as the two girls enthusiastically belted out the words. Many of the other students looked curiously at them. Mr. Lancer appeared used to this kind of behavior.

_We're rascals, scoundrels, villans, and knaves, _

_Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho! _

_We're devils and black sheep, really bad eggs, _

_Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho!_

_Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me! _

_We're beggars and blighters, ne'er-do-well cads, _

_Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho! _

_Aye, but we're loved by our mommies and dads, _

_Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho!_

On the last word, Danielle and Iris swiped pencils off their desks and raised them in the air like makeshift swords.

Shy giggled and Ammon shook his head in amusement. "Are those the only versus you know?" he asked.

Danielle blinked. "There's more?"

Ammon smirked. "Yes there is," he replied.

The black haired girl huffed and crossed her arms. "And I suppose you know the rest?" she challenged.

Iris snorted, covering her mouth with her hand to hide a smile. Shy gave Ammon a curious look.

The boy blushed and rubbed his shoulder. "Aheh, uh, well, ahm, sorta…" he mumbled.

Iris's lips twitched as she tried, and failed, to keep a straight face. "You walked right into that one, Amm," she told him.

Danielle quirked a brow and waited while Ammon muttered something under his breath. Then he straightened in his seat a bit. The words tumbled from his mouth so quickly, it sounded like one long run on sentence rather than a song.

_Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me. _

_We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot, _

_Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho. _

_We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot, _

_Drink up me 'earties, yo ho._

_Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me. _

_We extort, we pilfer, we filch, and sack, _

_Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho. _

_Maraud and embezzle, and even high-jack, _

_Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho._

_Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me. _

_We kindle and char, inflame and ignite, _

_Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho. _

_We burn up the city, we're really a fright, _

_Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho._

_We're rascals, scoundrels, villans, and knaves, _

_Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho. _

_We're devils and black sheep, really bad eggs, _

_Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho._

_Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me. _

_We're beggars and blighters, ne'er-do-well cads, _

_Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho. _

_Aye, but we're loved by our mommies and dads, _

_Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho._

Ammon coughed after the last word, looking embarrassed and slightly annoyed. Shy smiled and clapped her hands in applause, as did Iris. Danielle stared blankly at him.

"Never ask me to do that again," Ammon said, a tad flatly.

Iris chuckled. "He knows the song by heart and hates it," she stated, placing a hand over her chest and giving him a playful sympathy look.

Ammon frowned a little. "I don't _hate_ it. The song just annoys me."

"Only because you've heard it so many times," Iris replied with a grin.

Shy cocked her head and Danielle, who had been silent for several minutes, found her voice. "Just how many times _have_ you heard it?" she asked curiously.

Ammon sighed, tilting his head back to look up at the ceiling. "I've lost count, to be honest."

"His Uncle sings it like, _all_ the time when he visits," Iris informed the twins. She paused and looked at Ammon. "Which one is it again?"

"Which _one_?" Danielle repeated. "How many Uncles does he have?"

The bronze eyed girl waved a hand in the air. "Oh, a dozen or so."

Both Danielle and Shy's eyes widened and stared open mouthed at the boy.

Ammon rolled his eyes. "I only have eight," he corrected.

"Yeah, and ten Aunts."

"_Seven_."

"Right. Now, back to my question."

The shaggy haired boy huffed and shook his head before answering her. "Uncle Radom. T-jay knows it to. One of them's always humming or singing that song. The words have been permanently burned into my memory. And not willingly," he added with a mutter.

Danielle shook her head in disbelief. "Your family reunions must be interesting," she remarked.

Iris giggled. "Yup."

Shy looked up at her, quirking a brow.

The bronze eyed girl smiled. "His Grandma invited me once. It was a lot of fun."

Danielle scratched her head. "Aren't family reunions for, ya know, relatives?" she asked.

Ammon shrugged. "My family's always very...eager, to meet any friends, roommates, gir—uh, ect," he said hastily.

Iris rolled her eyes and smirked. "His Aunts tend to be matchmakers, so he avoids saying the G word with a passion," she told the twins.

"I'll say it," Ammon objected. "Just, not when they're around."

Shy disguised a giggle by pretending to cough. Danielle twirled her pencil with her fingers. "I take it he's never had a date, then?" she asked Iris.

"I'm right here," the boy said irritably, but both girls ignored him.

Iris shook her head. "Nope. Avoids the D word like the plague, too. Heck, he avoids girls in general."

"I hang out with you," Ammon pointed at her.

Iris waved him off. "Fine. But you've still never asked a girl out."

"Because they're all crazy," Ammon muttered, slouching in his seat. Shy leaned over and ruffled his hair, making his bangs fall in front of his eyes.

"Girls aren't crazy," Danielle stated. "You boys just can't understand the complexity of the superior female mind."

Ammon opened his mouth, then shut it and grimaced. "I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole."

Iris grinned. "Smart boy."

The four continued talking until Mr. Lancer stood up and told the class to take their seats for the second movie. There were a few groans from the students, fearing what other movie they would be forced to watch.

Mr. Lancer walked over to the tv. "I believe many of you are familiar with this movie," he said as he popped in the disk.

Danielle straightened in her seat and grinned as a skull and crossbones appeared on screen.

* * *

Danny leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms above his head. Notes and textbooks lay in front of him on the desk, scattered here and there along with a few erasers and a pencil or two. The homework was due for his third hour tomorrow, and he had only made a small dent in the work.

He sighed tiredly and looked out the window. Because it had turned into a rather humid day, Maddie had gone around the house and opened all the windows. The sun was setting, and the sky had changed from blue to orange. Pink and purple streaks wove their way through golden clouds as a light breeze came in through the open window.

Danny pushed back his seat and stood. He went out the door and proceeded down the hall. He paused when he came to the twin's room. The door was slightly ajar, just enough that he could see inside.

Like himself, the twins were working on homework.

Danielle was sprawled on her stomach on her bed, her text book and notepad in front of her. The black haired girl twirled the pencil she was holding with her fingers, a bored expression on her face as she read the book in front of her.

Shy had a more, unusual, position. The peach haired girl was sitting, or rather, _floating_, cross legged, upside down, on the celling. Her ponytail dangled as she rested a cheek in her hand, her book open and held in her lap by her elbows.

Deciding to have a little fun with his cousin, Danny flung the door wide open. "And this is my cousin's room," he announced loudly, like he was showing someone around.

Shy yelped in surprise and her arms flailed for a minute before she crashed to the floor.

Danielle looked over as her twin sat up with a groan, rubbing her head and scowling at their older cousin. Danny was laughing, and Danielle grinned. "Told ya sitting like that was a bad idea," she said.

Shy glared at them both as she plopped down on her own bed, picking her book off the floor where it had fallen. A sly smirk crossed her lips and she held out her hand. The next second, Danielle's text book flew across the room and smacked Danny in the face.

"Ow!" the boy exclaimed the same time as Danielle said, "Hey!"

Shy just giggled and smiled innocently.

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_Short, filler chapter. I'm sorry D: _

_Trying to figure out ways to make the story stretch a little, so the big parts don't seem to happen immediately after each other. It's, a, not going so well...heheh..._

_Movie day's something my old school used to do. It was fun._

_Yes, Danielle's a POTC fan. She'd **so** be Elizabeth for halloween...or Jack xD_

_C'mon, what teacher isn't used to his students randomly bursting into song? 8D ...just mine? Really? All righty then._

_This is how most of the gang's conversations go. Danielle and/or Iris teasing Ammon while Shy just sits there and tries not to laugh._

_And in case you missed it, go .com/art/The-Gang-206398393?q=gallery%3Aorciawish%2F28819594&qo=19 and .com/gallery/#/d3fqswb to further understand the whole Ammon's family convo_. _Or just follow the link to my DA and look for_ The Gang _and_ Mubarak and Attaways_._


	9. Downtown Dragon

_3 weeks later_

"Look out!"

**_VHOOOM!_**

A stream of green energy ripped through the air, colliding with a billboard and blasting it to pieces.

"Dang it!" the white haired girl shouted angrily, diving towards the crowd of people scurrying out of the way as chunks of steel and wood rained down on the street.

Before the debris could cause any harm, a large square of white suddenly appeared, catching the pieces mid-air. Soul tilted the shield slightly, letting the chunks fall onto the sidewalk and sighed heavily with relief.

Danielle slammed to a halt in the air beside her, glaring daggers at the people standing around and starring at the two ghost girls.

"Will you people get out of here?" the female halfa snapped, but her voice was drowned out as an ear shattering screech pierced the air.

People screamed and covered their ears as they ran away. Danielle and Soul shot back into the air, flying towards the cause of the panic.

A ghost dragon.

This one had no relation to Aragon or Dora, however. It had no amulet, for starters. It roared and screeched, never uttering a human word. Its scales were blood red, with a black underbelly and long, curved horns. Sharp spikes ran down its spine, gathering at the end of the tail to make a spikey whip.

And it was much, much more violent.

The dragon swiped the air with a giant claw. A black and white blur was thrown aside, heading for a building. Soul swerved after it, while Danielle continued towards the dragon.

The beast swung its head towards the female halfa just as she sent two icicles its way. A snort and two puffs of steam blew from the dragon's nostrils, melting the icicles instantly before they could get close.

Danielle growled and kicked her leg in the air. This time, a sharp beam of green light spiraled towards the dragons' chest.

The dragon roared as the beam sliced its scales, and left a thin trail of green ectoplasm across its chest.

"C'mon, ya big snake!" Danielle shouted, her fists glowing green as they charged another ghost ray. "It's just a scratch! I can take worse than _that_!"

The dragon pulled back its head and opened its mouth, unleashing a stream of purple fire at the female halfa.

"That didn't mean I wanted to!" she yelped and flung her arms in front of her. A green shield appeared around her seconds before the fire descended upon her.

Soul, who had successfully stopped Danny from crashing into a building _(after being thrown aside by the dragon), _looked over with a gasp just as the fire engulfed her twin.

Danny gritted his teeth and shot towards the dragon, his fist glowing blue. Soul took off to aid her sister…somehow.

With the dragon focused on Danielle, it didn't notice Danny flying towards it. Swerving so he was angled above its head, Danny poised his arm and waited.

The stream of fire continued to flow from the dragons' mouth, and Danny had to squint to see as smoke started filling the air around him.

Then, the fire stopped and Danny seized his chance. Diving towards the dragons' mouth as it started to close; he fired a beam of blue energy into it. The dragon screeched as the cold filled its throat, its eyes widening as ice shot down its throat.

Danny's arms fell to his side and he brushed his bangs out of his eyes, smirking smugly. "Not so hot now, are you?"

The dragons eyes narrowed and it shook its head, attempting to growl, but due to the ice it could not.

Danny turned to check on his younger cousins. Danielle's shield had held up against the dragons' fire, and aside from looking a little tired, she appeared fine. Soul floated next to her, looking relived.

Now, they just had to find where Sam and Tucker had taken cover during the fight and they could get this beast in the thermos…

"DANNY!"

The ghost boy jerked at Danielle's scream, but didn't have time to look up before he was grabbed and pulled out of the way. A second later, the spot where he had been was engulfed by purple flames.

Blinking in shock, Danny looked over at the dragon. Its eyes were lit with rage as it threw back its head and roared, sending more fire into the sky.

Soul, who had been the one who grabbed him, let go of his arm. Danielle floated in the air next to them, watching the dragon with a mixed look of exasperation and anger.

"I can't believe that didn't work!" she yelled. "You _froze_ the entire frickin' throat!"

"Obviously, that wasn't enough," Danny muttered.

The dragon swung its head towards the three ghost heroes, and in the next second the three had darted off in different directions as the dragon charged them, spewing fire as it did so.

The dragon paused only for a moment before it chose its prey and flew after Danny, the one who had tried to douse its flame.

Danny gritted his teeth and twisted around in the air, firing a ghost ray at the dragons face. The beam hit the dragon directly, and it reeled back in pain. Taking advantage of the moment, Danny put on a burst of speed and created some distance between himself and the dragon.

Looking back, Danny saw the dragon rub the eye that been damaged, screeching angrily as it did so.

A sudden breeze blew past him, whipping his hair in front of his face for a moment. Danny shook it clear and saw two streaks flying towards the dragon.

Danielle and Soul each swerved to opposite sides as the dragon looked up, one of its eyes now seared white. Danielle fired a ghost ray at the base of its neck, and the dragon growled and swung its tail at her.

Danielle had no time to dodge the spikey whip as it collided with her. She spiraled downwards, crashing into the ground, and the impact created a shallow pit in the street. Danielle jumped back up, swaying on the spot for a moment, then shook her head and glared fiercely at the dragon, her eyes flashing as she shot back into the air.

Soul ducked just as the dragon swung a claw at her, narrowly missing her foot. A white orb appeared in Soul's hand and she flung it at the dragons' chest. The orb struck one of the wounds from Danielle's earlier hit, and exploded.

The dragon screeched and reeled back. Its wings flapped madly, sending gusts of wind that buffeted against Soul and forced her back. She flung her arms in front of her and tried to steady herself, but it was too much. She had to dive to get out of the way.

Danny flew in closer and started bombarding the dragons' chest, hitting the open wounds. With a roar of pain, the dragon swung its tail around at Danny, who flew up and managed to avoid it.

Danielle came up from behind, swinging her leg around and sending a blade of light at the dragons' back. It hit its mark, striking near the base of a wing. Not enough to affect its flying, but enough to turn the dragons' attention away from Danny and to Danielle.

The female halfa narrowed her eyes with a growl. "Bring it, scaly."

* * *

Soul stopped several feet below the dragon and looked up just as Danny began firing beams at the dragons' chest.

She was about to go back and help, when something whizzed over her shoulder, scrapping her cheek. With a jerk, Soul whipped around just as another object flew over her head.

Wrapped in a cloak of deep red, an archer ghost aimed another arrow at her.

Soul's eyes widened and she dove out of the way just as he released it. The arrow flew through a window across the street.

Soul looked over her shoulder as the archer prepared another bow, but a clicking sound to her left made her turn. She gasped and swerved out of the way as green fire flew across her path. The flamethrower ghost narrowed its eyes as she dodged his flames.

Twisting in the air, Soul flung an orb of white light at the two. The orb exploded and Soul smirked.

Her smirk quickly vanished when the smoke cleared and both ghosts were still there.

Distracted by the surprise her ghost bomb hadn't seemed to do any damage at all, Soul failed to notice the building she was on course with.

Her back collided with it.

Soul yelped and dropped like a rock, landing on the sidewalk with a _thud_. Her amber eyes went wide as she saw the ghost turn his flamethrower in her direction, a finger reaching for the switch.

As the green flames sped towards her, Soul flung out her arms and a shield of white surrounded her. The flames bombarded the shield, trying in vain to break through. When the flames died, Soul crouched and sprung into the air. She heard the click of the switch and looked down as more flames chased after her.

With a twirl of her hand, another shield appeared and the flames battered against it, but once again could not break through. A _whoosh_ behind her signaled the flamethrower ghost had flown above her.

Soul mimicked him, shooting upward, then somersaulted in mid-air and came down with a powerful flipping-ax-kick on the ghosts head. The flamethrower nozzle fell from his hands as he plummeted to the ground, crashing into the pavement.

Soul only had a minute to look smug before an arrow whizzed in front of her, inches from her nose. Reeling back, Soul looked over and saw the archer take aim once more. Her eyes flashed and she growled.

Her fists began glowing at her sides, and Soul shot towards him, dodging the arrow he sent her way. Before he could grab another, the ghost girl rammed into him and they fell into a dive. The two twisted in mid-air, the archer grabbing Soul's throat and positioning it so she would land first.

Soul's eyes flashed and she grabbed his arm, managing to turn him over and twist the arm behind his back.

Seconds before they would have hit the ground, the archer turned intangible. Soul blinked, mentally kicking herself for temporally forgetting that ability, and dove aside to avoid crashing.

She somersaulted over the pavement and came to a halt, landing flat on her stomach with a groan.

_How_ had she managed to forget that little detail of intangibility?

Scowling, Soul looked over where the flamethrower ghost had landed. He to, was gone. She sighed heavily. Well, they'd have to wait. She had to get back to Danny and Danielle.

Just as she started to push herself off the ground, something reached up through the pavement and grabbed her ankle. Soul looked back and gasped as her leg went intangible against her will and started sinking underground, followed by the rest of her body.

In the split second before her entire arm went intangible, she heard a shout of "Gotcha!" and someone took hold of her wrist. Soul's head snapped around to see Tucker flat on his stomach, having apparently dived to grab hold of her from wherever he had taken cover during the dragon attack.

The intangibility snaked up the Techno Geek's arms and body, and then both teens fell through the ground and vanished.

* * *

"NOW!"

A blinding flash filled the sky, and with a final ear splitting screech, the dragon was sucked into the Fenton thermos.

Panting, Danny wiped his arm across his forehead and let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Below him on the street, the silver thermos in her hands, Sam stood, locking the cap on the device.

The ghost boy touched down beside her. He gave a weak grin. "Nice timing."

Sam smirked. "It's a gift."

Danielle floated down to join the two. The female halfa was covered in soot, and her hair looked more grey then white. She coughed and a small black puff exited her mouth. "If I hear one joke about me being a hothead, I'm blasting whoever says it into the next dimension," she muttered as she tried to wipe some of the ash off her face. She only succeeded in smearing it. "That goes for you to, Soul," she added, turning around.

No one was there.

The three teens looked around, but there was no sign of the other ghost girl.

Danny frowned softly and looked over at Sam. "Where's Tucker?" he asked slowly.

Sam shrugged, her brow furrowing. "We got separated by all the people running around trying to get out of here."

Danielle bit her lip. "Did you see where Soul went after scaly tried blowing her out of the sky?"

Danny shook his head. "No."

"Maybe they're together?" Sam suggested.

"Soul wouldn't just ditch a fight like that," Danielle replied. "Not willingly, anyway."

Danny sighed. "Well, we're not going to find them standing around talking. They're probably around here somewhere. Sam, you've got my cell, right?"

The Goth girl nodded and pulled out the silver phone.

"Call my parents and let them know we're fine, we're just not coming home yet."

Sam blinked. "What do I say if she asks why?"

"The truth. Just, try to make it sound causal so she doesn't worry."

"She's a mother. Worrying is kind of their thing."

* * *

_Author's Notes_

_Yup, time skip, because I can't cover every single day of their lives (that'd be ridiculous). _

_And yes, I admit to chickening out on the whole dragon final fight scene. Quite frankly, action, romance, and subtly are not my strong points when it comes to writing. And I felt bad that you had to read my terrible attempts at it, that I didn't want to force you to read any more then _absolutely_ necessary (that, and _how_ they beat it is not really important to the story). You'll have to use your imaginations for how the Phantom duo beat the beastie._

_More will be explained in the next chapter guys ;)_


	10. Sewers and Snakes

_Drip._

_Drip._

_Drip._

Teal eyes blinked open, and Tucker groaned softly as he tried to lift his head.

He was met by a small wave of dizziness.

The Techno Geek winced and let his head drop back down. His glasses, having somehow managed to stay on his face, were askew and bent awkwardly. His hat lay in a puddle beside him, a few inches from his hand. He could taste something funny in his mouth, and touching his tongue to the inside of his cheek, he confirmed it was blood. A warm and sticky liquid slid down his face, and without touching it he knew he had one or more cuts on his face.

Not surprising, considering the drop onto _(what felt like)_ concrete from who knows how high.

There was a glimmer on the lens of his glasses, and Tucker carefully angled his head towards it.

He hastily bit back a gasp.

Two ghosts floated a few feet away, and he recognized them as the archer and flamethrower wielder from a few weeks ago. Their eerie green auras reflected in the water around them, and upon seeing the stone walls, Tucker realized they were in the sewers.

Oh, _yuck_. He'd definitely need a shower after this.

The ghosts were talking, and Tucker quickly focused on what they were saying.

Or rather, what _someone_ was saying _to_ them, he realized as a shadow stepped in front of the two ghosts.

A man, large by the look of it, stood in front of them. Tucker couldn't see much else from his place on the ground, but he caught a faint glimpse of something white when the man walked in front of the ghosts green glow.

"We just need the girl. That was the whole point of sicking the dragon on the town. Get her away from the others so you could catch her," the man was saying. His voice, though calm, was cold and there was the slightest hint of underlining fury that sent chills down the Techno Geek's spine. "So how did you manage to snag an extra body?"

_Body?_ Tucker gulped. The way they were talking, it sounded as if they were going to kill him and "the girl"….

Wait a minute.

Tucker turned his head ever so slightly, and catching sight of a mess of black and yellow hair not far from him, his eyes widened.

Soul lay face down like he was, her hair hiding her face from view, meaning he was unable to tell if she was faking it like he was, or if she was actually unconscious.

"We got the girl, and successfully knocked her out," the flamethrower ghost replied.

_Well, that answers that question_, Tucker thought with a frown. _But what do these guys want with Soul?_

Whatever the reason, they obviously needed to get out of there. But with Soul unconscious, their options were a_ bit_ limited. Tucker's hand twitched, and he felt something rub against his wrist. A light bulb went off in his head as he caught a small glimpse of silver under his sleeve.

"We can leave the boy," the archer was saying. "He will wake up eventually and either someone will find him, or he will find his way out."

"He's already awake."

Tucker froze. Footsteps echoed in the tunnel, and he saw three shadows approaching. The footsteps stopped, and water splashed on his face. He resisted the urge to gag.

"Sit up, kid. I know you've been listening," the cold voice ordered.

Slowly, Tucker did as he was told, rising to his knees. When he looked up, he found himself staring at…himself.

It took a moment for him to realize he was seeing his reflection in the man's sunglasses. The man's black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and the leather jacket he wore had white streaks going down the arms and over the shoulders.

Tucker silently gulped, but managed to keep his gaze neutral.

The man didn't so much as flinch for several minutes, during which Tucker felt his spine tingle under the man's gaze.

Then, the man spoke. "Who are you?"

"Tucker."

"Tucker James Foley. Eighteen. Born March third to Tom and Molly Foley. Associates with Sam Manson and the Fentons. Currently Casper High's top student and has been accepted to three collages: Peninsula College in Port Angeles, Washington; Burlington College in Burlington, Vermont; and New College of Florida in Sarasota, Florida. You haven't picked one yet."

Tucker's jaw dropped and he recoiled as the man recited the information about him. Other than his parents, Danny and Sam were the only ones who knew he had been accepted to those collages. "How did you…?"

The man cracked his neck, making Tucker wince at the noise. "I have resources, kid. Part of my job."

Tucker blinked, and noticed out of the corner of his eye that the archer ghost had drifted over to Soul and was currently looking down at her.

The man saw Tucker's gaze flicker over, and he followed it. "We just came for the girl," he said, rising to his full height _(which was at _least_ a foot and a half taller than Tucker)_, "You can go once we leave." He jerked his head at the flamethrower ghost. "Make sure he stays put."

Tucker frowned and discreetly shifted his hands in his lap, keeping his gaze on the man. Now that he had turned around, Tucker could see the white streaks that curved over the shoulders on his jacket continued onto the back, where they turned into two snakes with red eyes.

The man bent down beside Soul. He reached out and lifted the girl's bangs out of her face. Upon seeing her eyes closed, he let the hair fall back down. He nodded at the archer ghost, who bent down to pick up the girl.

Tucker made his move.

Spinning on one knee, Tucker raised his arm at the flamethrower ghost standing guard over him. The ghost had not a second to react before a green blast of energy shot from the teen's wrist and collided with his chest. The ghost went flying down the long tunnel.

The man and archer ghost whipped around, and the archer reached for his bow. But Tucker was quicker. Another blast fired from his wrist, knocking the archer back and into the sewer water. Without even thinking, Tucker pointed his arm at the sunglasses man and shot another blast. The man went flying across the tunnel and collided with the wall. He slid to the floor and flopped over with a groan.

Tucker winced. "I should probably feel bad about that. And I will. Later."

The Techno Geek grabbed his hat out of the puddle and slammed it on his head as he hurried over to Soul. Dropping to his knees beside her, he flipped her over and shook her shoulders. "Come on, Soul. Crazy ghosts, bad man with snakes, we be needing to leave now! Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

_POW!_

"Ow!" Tucker yelped as a black gloved hand shot up and smashed into his nose. He groaned and leaned back, his hands covering the lower half of his face.

Soul's amber eyes blinked open as she slowly sat up. Shaking her head, she frowned in confusion when she saw Tucker. Her eyes widened and she gasped, immediately looking concerned when he pulled his hands away and she saw the blood smeared on his nose.

"Shoulda' known that'd happen," Tucker muttered, dabbing some of the blood away with his sleeve. "Ugh, forget it. I can have plastic surgery. We have to go, now!"

He grabbed Soul's wrist and helped her up. Looking down the way he had shot the flamethrower ghost, Tucker pointed down the other tunnel. "This way!" he said and started running towards it.

His feet suddenly lifted off the ground and two arms looped under his armpits. He yelped in surprise as Soul put on a burst of speed and flew down the tunnel.

Tucker had flown with Danny before, so this was not a new experience to him. That didn't mean he enjoyed it.

There was a rushing sound behind them and the two teens looked over their shoulders. Tucker shouted and he gripped Soul's arms as green flames sped toward them.

Soul's eyes narrowed and she dove down, close to the water. Tucker felt his shoes skim the murky liquid as the flames shot over their heads. He could feel the heat from them and grimaced.

When the flames ceased, Soul flew back up and put on a burst of speed. The air whipped Tucker's face, making it difficult to breathe properly.

Soul suddenly cried out and the two teens started to fall. Tucker shrieked and flung his arms in front of his face just as his feet broke the water's surface.

He was submerged for a minute before he kicked his legs and his head emerged from the water. Gasping for air, Tucker pushed his hat out of his eyes. His glasses had fallen off and were floating inches from his shoulder. Reaching out, Tucker snatched them before they started to sink and put them back on his face.

Soul's head burst out of the water beside him. Shaking her bangs out of her eyes, she growled and Tucker followed her gaze down the tunnel. The archer ghost floated a dozen or so feet away, preparing another arrow to fire. The flamethrower ghost was flying towards them. Tucker barely registered the fact that sunglasses man wasn't there when Soul grabbed his arm and shot from the water like a bullet.

While they flew, Tucker noticed a tear in Soul's leg, and a long, green gash. One of the archer's arrows had hit her, which was why they had fallen.

Another arrow whizzed towards them, but Tucker cried out and warned Soul this time. Swerving down another tunnel, Soul avoided the arrow and it instead sank into the wall of the sewer.

The flamethrower ghost aimed his weapon at them. Tucker twisted his wrist awkwardly around and raised his dangling arm to press the button. A blast of green energy shot towards the flamethrower, hitting him in the chest and knocking him back.

"An exit would be nice!" Tucker shouted.

Soul glanced down at him, then looked at the ceiling. Her eyes lit up and she suddenly came to a halt. Tucker made a choking sound as his neck whiplashed. He looked back and saw the archer and flamethrower ghost quickly catching up.

"Uh, Soul, creepy nut-jobs, three o'clock!" Tucker yelped.

Soul raised her arm and a large orb of white appeared. She flung it down, towards the water as the archer and flamethrower ghosts drew closer.

The orb touched the water, and exploded. Water erupted from the spot, shooting up towards the two teens and all around them. It was like wall of water encircled them, blocking the archer and flamethrower from coming closer.

Soul tightened her grip on Tucker's arm as the water rushed at them, pushing them both up towards the ceiling. At the last minute, Soul flashed them both intangible.

* * *

"Soul!"

"Tucker!"

"Shy!"

"Tucker, where are you?"

"Soul!"

"Will you pick a name? Soul, Shy, it's confusing!"

"I'll call whatever gets me an answer!"

Danny sighed and shook his head. "Guys, come on. You're giving me a headache."

Sam and Danielle stopped and looked at him. When Danny turned back around, they both gave the other an irritated look.

Without turning around, Danny knew what they were doing. "Guyssss," he said while continuing to walk ahead.

The three had been looking for their friends for the last hour or so, and after giving the town an aerial sweep, Danny and Danielle had transformed and continued to search with Sam on foot.

There was still no sign of the Techno Geek or the amber eyed ghost girl.

Now they were reaching the edge of the part of town where the fight had taken place. The streets were still clear, as the police had directed everyone to the upper part of town, away from the fight and towards FentonWorks _(just in case they needed to get people under the ghost shield)_.

Sam frowned and crossed her arms. "Where could they have possibly gone? It's not like they can disappear into thin air."

Danielle quirked a brow.

"Don't give me that," the Goth girl warned.

"Trust me Danielle, don-" Danny stopped in the middle of his sentence, causing both girls to look over at him.

"What? Earthquake?" Danielle asked.

"Maybe," Danny muttered, stepping back. The two girls blinked in confusion.

Suddenly, two bodies shot out of the ground where Danny had been standing seconds before. The two flew up about twenty feet, then slowly started falling.

Danny and Danielle prepared to jump up and grab them, when one of the bodies grabbed the other and they drifted slowly down onto the pavement.

Drenched, bleeding, and coughing up water, Tucker and Soul fell to their knees on the road. Or to be more accurate, Soul dropped to her knees. Tucker just flopped over and rolled onto his back.

"Air!" he gasped. "Sweet, blissful, clean, air!"

Danny, Sam, and Danielle ran forward. A ring appeared around Soul and she changed to Shy. Her bangs hung in front of her face as the girl coughed up water and took long, deep breaths.

"Where have you two been?" Danny asked, kneeling down in between them. He blinked. "Tucker, what happened to your nose?"

The Techno Geek pointed a limp finger at Shy. "Your little cousin happened," he wheezed. "Socked me right in the face."

Danny looked over at Shy, who shook her head to get her bangs out of her face. She nodded and shrugged apologetically.

"What were you doing in the sewers?" Sam wondered. She covered her nose with her hand. "Gah, you both reek!"

Tucker glared at her. "We were swimming," he replied sarcastically.

Danielle had knelt down beside her twin, and now noticed the wound on her leg. "Don't tell me you got attacked by a sewer gator," she said, frowning.

Shy shook her head and gestured to Tucker. The other three looked at him expectantly.

Tucker took a deep breath and slowly let it out before answering. "When me and Sam got separated, I ducked into this building to keep out of the way of the crowd. Then I followed the fight on foot. I saw Soul fly down, and then she didn't come back. I went looking and saw her lying in the road. She started sinking through the ground, and from the look on her face, it wasn't willingly. So I ran out and grabbed her arm. I was going to pull her up, but instead we both turned intangible. Next thing I know, I'm waking up in the sewer and that archer ghost and flamethrower ghost from a few weeks ago were there."

"What?" Danny and Danielle exclaimed in unison.

"Uh-huh. And there was this guy, big fella, who I guess is their boss or something, because it seemed like they were working for him. They were talking about how they needed Soul for, something, I don't know what. They didn't say. They sent the dragon, by the way. It was part of their plan. You and Danielle fight the dragon, they get Soul away and take her. Anyway, the dude, he told me I could go because they weren't after me. I blasted them with my Fenton Wrist Blaster," he held up his arm, the silver bracelet glinting in the sun.

"Man, am I glad I supped these things up. It worked great. They'd knocked Soul unconscious, so I woke her up, and she nailed me, " he pointed at his nose. "Then they chased us down the sewer tunnels and the archer hit Soul with an arrow and we fell in the water. Then we flew some more, and then Soul made the water go whoosh and voila!" he gasped and let his arm flop back down. "Here we are."

Danielle blinked and frowned slightly. "Uh, why didn't you guys just fly through the ceiling in the first place instead of going through the sewers?"

Shy and Tucker both blinked and exchanged a blank look. Then Shy groaned and let her head hang while Tucker placed a hand over his eyes. "Oh shut up. We were panicking," he muttered.

"Never mind. Point is, you got away. Tucker, are you sure it was the same ghosts from before?" Sam asked.

Tucker spread his fingers so she could see an eye. "Yes."

"And you're sure they wanted Soul?"

"_Yessss_."

Danny bit his lip for a moment, then turned to Shy. "How bad is your leg?" he asked gently.

"Oh yes! I'm fine! Just a broken nose and possible water damage to my lungs. Thanks for asking," Tucker exclaimed.

Sam placed her hands on her hips and frowned at him. "Then maybe we should take you to the hospital."

The Techno Geek covered his eyes again. "Never mind."

Shy shrugged, waving her hand to brush her older cousins concern aside. Danielle quirked a brow at her twin and nudged the wound with her foot.

Shy cringed and glared at her.

"It can't be that bad. She's not biting my head off," Danielle clarified.

Danny rolled his eyes briefly before looking down at Tucker. "And you?"

Tucker shrugged. "I'll live. Just have your Mom fix me up."

Danny nodded. "All right, let's get you two back home. Can you walk?"

Shy nodded and pushed herself to her feet. She winced when she put weight on her leg, but otherwise seemed fine.

Tucker groaned and slowly got up. He swayed dizzily on the spot for a moment, but once Danny and Sam steadied him, he was fine.

While they walked, Danny called his parents and told them they were coming back. He also informed them to have the first aid kit ready, which led to him assuring his mother that the injuries were minor.

When they got back to FentonWorks, people had left and gone back home. Maddie met them at the door and ushered the two injured teens into the living room where she sat them down and fixed them up. There wasn't much she could do about the smell of the sewer water, however. Tucker said he'd just take a shower when he went home. Shy said she'd take one later that evening.

Tucker's nose wasn't broken, just badly sprained. After cleaning the blood off his face, Maddie gave him an icepack to keep on his nose while she cleaned his scratches.

She then wrapped Shy's leg and an ice pack for a lump on her head _(apparently by knocking her out, the ghosts had meant they had just whacked her over the head)_.

Maddie then insisted on checking her son and other niece. Danny and Danielle had a few minor burns from the fight with the dragon, which Maddie cleaned quickly.

After that the five teens sat in the living room and talked while Maddie prepared dinner.

"Can you think of any reason those ghosts would want you, Shy?" Danny asked.

"an hat ude," Tucker added, his voice muffled by the towel wrapped around the ice pack on his nose.

Shy frowned and shook her head.

Danny sighed and his brow furrowed in thought. "Well, now we know they _are_ after something. And what. Now we just need to figure out why."

Shy shrugged helplessly.

"In the meantime, we should double patrols. If these guys want you bad enough to sick a dragon on the town just to separate you from us, who knows what else they'll do."

The other four nodded in understanding.

Sam looked over at Tucker. "The guy you said was there, what did he look like? We should keep an eye out for him. He might try something to."

"ong, ack air, eally all uy, aller hen e or anny. e ad unlasses on an ore a eather acket ith hakes."

Danielle snorted and covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. Tucker's eyes narrowed and he removed the ice pack. "Long, black hair, really tall guy, taller than me or Danny. He had sunglasses on and wore a leather jacket with snakes."

Danny blinked. "Snakes?"

"Yeah, snakes. White streaks on the sleeves that went over the shoulders and onto the back. The ends were snake heads, and they had creepy red eyes."

"Creepy? They're just snake eyes," Sam said.

"Exactly. Slithery little serpents with tiny, beady eyes. Creepy."

* * *

_Author's Notes_

_Dun dun dun..._

_Tucker's middle name and birthday were chosen randomly. As were the collages mentioned. And I couldn't remeber if his parents names were ever mentioned in the show or not so -shrug- I picked two from a book._

_Fenton Wrist Blaster. Not sure if that's what they're called on the show, but oh well. I mention here .com/gallery/?offset=24#/d3a73kk that Tucker spruced up the FWB's and he and Sam each wear one._

_Sam and Danielle do butt heads from time to time. Not often, but sometimes. Plus, they're both a bit tired here._

_And Danny's calmer in my stories. Don't worry, he still freaks out, just not as often. And even less around the twins. 'cause he's a good big brother and tries to be calm around them so _they_ don't freak out._


	11. Storm UPDATE

**IMPORTANT: Please follow the link in my profile to my DA page and read the latest journal. There is an update for this story there. Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.**

* * *

Thunder boomed across the dark sky, causing the house to tremble slightly. Danny looked out the rain pelted window in his room. A flash of lightning lit up the sky for a moment before disappearing.

"_I swear, Danny, if something like this _ever_ happens again and you wait more than twenty four hours to call me, I will get on the next plane home and cram you in that thermos."_

Turning away from the window, Danny winced and held the phone at arm's length.

"_Put that phone back by your ear, mister! You're getting the brunt of my bad mood whether you like it or not."_

Another crash of thunder.

With a sigh, Danny complied. Cradling the phone between his shoulder and cheek, he started digging through the mess of papers and books on his desk. "It's kind of scary how well you know me."

"_Big sister. My job to know,"_ Jazz's voice replied over the phone.

"What's got you in a foul mood?" he asked, tossing a math book onto his bed.

"_You mean _besides_ the fact I just found out one of my little cousins nearly got kidnapped a few days ago and no one bothered to call and tell me?"_

"I'm sorry, Jazz. It just, slipped my mind, that's all."

In the background, Danny heard a door open and close, followed by a chipper voice. _"Yo, Jazzy. Tell Danny I say hi!" _There was a scuffling sound, and then the door opened and shut again.

"_Liz says hi."_

Danny grinned. "You were saying?"

Jazz huffed and her voice took an apologetic tone. _"Sorry, I guess I'm just tired. Liz tells me it's 'perfectionist syndrome' and that I'm studying too much." _The college student muttered something inaudible under her breath.

Danny chuckled. Jazz got particularly cranky when she didn't get enough sleep. He'd learned that the hard way a long time ago. "Maybe you should take the weekend off from studying and just sleep," he suggested.

"_Mm, maybe. Anyway, how are Tucker and Shy doing? They're okay?"_

"Tucker's too used to this kind of thing, or so he claims. Other than complaining about his swollen nose, courtesy of our red head cousin, he's okay."

"_And Shy?"_

Danny paused and walked over to the open door, shifting the phone into his hand. Down the hall, the twins' door was cracked ajar, but no sound came from it. He knew they were up there, though. They had gone straight to their room once they had gotten home from school a couple hours ago. The last time he walked by, he saw the girls on their beds, each with a text book and notebook laid out in front of them.

"Danny?"

He blinked and turned around, walking back to the window. "Sorry. Uhm, she seems to be taking it okay, I guess."

"_You guess."_ Jazz obviously knew there was more to it than that.

"Well, she's a bit jumpier, which can be expected right?"

"_Right."_

"But she's…well, quieter. She seems to be walking around in a thick fog or something."

"_You mean she's depressed?"_

Danny frowned thoughtfully before answering. "I don't know if I'd call it _that_…mild depression maybe, but more like she's scared….and confused."

Silence ticked by for a minute. The only sound the distant rumbling of thunder and the drumming of rain against the window.

"_I can't say I'm surprised,"_ Jazz started slowly, her voice soft with concern._ "She did just find out there's some kind of bounty on her head. That'd freak anyone out."_

Danny sighed as he sank onto his bed. "True, but still. It's like there's something else bothering her, but she doesn't want to talk about it."

A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, making Danny glance over at the window. He jerked and did a double take. Frowning, he rose and slowly walked over to the window. Placing his free hand on the window, he squinted through the rain and looked out.

It was nearly impossible to see anything through the blurred window, but from what he could see, there was nothing out of the ordinary outside. He waited for another flash of lightning, but in the split second of light it provided, he saw nothing except the building next door.

"_Did Tucker have any luck with the search?"_ Jazz asked, apparently thinking her brothers' silence had been one of concern for Shy.

Shaking his head, Danny turned away from the window. "No. There's not a whole lot he can do with virtually nothing to go on."

Jazz sighed. _"Sadly. If we had _something_ to go on, maybe we could find out who's after Shy."_

The day after the dragon incident, Danny had brought up the idea of trying to do a search of people who had known Shy and her family.

Unfortunately, they'd hit a brick wall.

Shy couldn't remember anything before the crash that had killed her, and even _that_ memory was blurry. She could recall waking up in the ghost zone and everything after that perfectly, but anything before was too blurred to get any details out of. No last name, no address, no name of a city, no state. Shy admitted she wasn't even sure _what_ had caused the car to swerve off the road and go into the river.

Sam had then suggested a search of car crashes five years ago.

The soda Tucker had been drinking at the time had spewed from his mouth and all over the coffee table. "What?" he had exclaimed. "Sam, do you have _any_ idea how many crashes happen in America just _one_ year? It would take forever to find just _one_ with no other details besides the car going into the river!"

To prove his point, the Techno Geek brought up a list of crashes in the past year as an example. He was right. There were far too many to leaf through and find just one. Even with it narrowed down a smidge when they included a river in the search.

Which meant they had no idea who the "snake back guy" _(as Tucker had started referring him to)_ was, or any leads on how to find him before he found them.

Needless to say, the idea was very unsettling.

Danielle sat up on her bed, dropping her pencil on her notebook and stretching her arms over her head. The rain outside provided a steady rhythm as it drummed against the window.

Leaning back, Danielle looked over at Shy. Her twin had said virtually nothing since they had gotten home from school. Heck, she'd barely said anything all day.

Sitting cross legged with her head in her hands, Shy starred at the book in front of her. But she wasn't reading it, Danielle could tell. For one, she was still on the page with the picture of a bird's wing structure that she'd opened the book to when they had gotten home.

The other thing was her eyes. Their normal periwinkle blue was clouded and her brow was furrowed. That, and the only movement she'd made had been when she'd picked up the notebook and scribbled something. She'd been doing that all day it seemed, even at school she'd been writing things down.

Danielle bit her lip. She knew one thing that was bothering Shy, but she had a feeling there was something else. She just didn't know _what_.

Screw the homework. It could wait.

Swinging her legs over the bed, Danielle got up and walked over to Shy. Her twin didn't look up or acknowledge her presence, until Danielle snapped the book shut.

The noise more than the action seemed to get Shy's attention. She blinked and slowly looked up.

Danielle crossed her arms and cocked her head, quirking her brow curiously. She didn't say anything, but Shy got the message.

The peach haired girl turned her head, staring blankly out the rain smeared window. Danielle waited a moment, and then Shy pointed at the notebook.

Danielle looked down at it. Contrary to what she had thought, Shy hadn't been writing. Rather, the page was filled with small sketches. Simple and messy, some were crossed out, while others had little detail. None were finished, and at a glance, one would think it had been simple doodling with not much effort.

But Danielle knew Shy. And she rarely drew people. She preferred drawing more landscape art, mountains, oceans, forests, things like that.

Sitting down, Danielle picked up the notebook for a closer look. Shy continued to stare out the window as she did so.

Danielle frowned softly as she looked at the rough sketches. Some of them had hair that ended just above the persons shoulder, with bangs a bit shorter then Shy's. Judging by the broad shoulders, it was a man. The other sketches seemed softer, with hair that was more wavy and ended a few inches below the shoulder. The hair was tied up, it seemed, and pulled back. These sketches were of a woman.

But neither had a face.

Each sketch, even the few more detailed ones, had no facial features. No eyes or mouth or nose. They were left blank.

Realization hit Danielle, and she looked up at Shy.

She'd been trying to draw her parents, but her memories were too blurred to provide her with the details she needed. Details she _wanted_.

Gently, Danielle reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. She didn't say anything, just shifted over and wrapped her sister in a comforting hug.

"_A reminder of a reminder, it burned its way into their hearts, even as it vanished. The end."_

"_Can you read another one? Please?"_

"_You've already had two more stories then your Mom permitted, Sunflower."_

"_Pleeeease, Daddy? Just one more teeny, tiny, story?"_

"_Ah-hem."_

"_Uh oh. Caught by the warden!"_

"_Mommy, can Daddy read me just one more story? Pretty please?"_

"_One."_

"_Yipee!"_

Shy's eyes flew open.

The room was dark, the only light the occasional flash of lightning in the night sky. The rain had increased, turning into a flat out downpour that sounded like a hail of bullets were being fired at the window.

Frowning, Shy sat up in bed. A strange feeling swept through her, unnamed and misty, like fog rolling in with the ocean's waves. Had that been a memory, or just a dream?

It _felt_ like a memory, if a memory could feel like anything. The voices had sounded distant, like they were just out of hearing range.

That was how it seemed to be with most of her memories. They were there, just beyond her reach, images she couldn't bring into focus. They remained fuzzy, cloaked in mist, but they _were _there. Voices she could barely hear, leaves rustling in the wind, and a feeling she couldn't pin down, remained clouded in fog.

And then they'd disappear, leaving her feeling empty and hollow.

Drawing her knees to her chest, Shy let her head drop on them. Her memories and emotions were all jumbled up, like a giant knot that seemed impossible to untangle.

And truth be told….she wasn't sure she _wanted_ to untangle it.

What if she didn't like what she remembered? Sure the memory or dream or whatever just now had sounded happy, but what if her life before hadn't been? Was not being able to remember a blessing in disguise?

Thunder boomed outside, and Shy raised her head, glancing over the window as lightning flashed across the sky. It illuminated the room and outside for a brief second, before casting it back into darkness.

Shy blinked and tensed.

When another flash lit the room, she slowly tossed back the covers and got out of bed. Cautiously, she walked over to the window. Placing her hands on the small shelf under the window, she squinted to see through the murky darkness.

Lightning lit up the sky again, and Shy saw something in the street. Though the rain blurred it considerably, it looked like a person. Shy frowned, an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Craning her neck, she tried to get a better look, but the rain made it too difficult.

Lightning flashed.

Shy screamed.

Danielle bolted upright in bed at her sister's cry, whipping around to see what was wrong. Shy was sitting on the floor in front of the window.

Tossing the covers aside, Danielle ran over. The lights in the hall flicked on, and there was the thudding of feet on carpet as Danny appeared in the door, followed by Jack and Maddie.

"What happened?" Maddie asked, going over to the girls and dropping down beside them.

Shy's face was white and her eyes were wide as she pointed at the window. Danny frowned and walked over, looking out. "I don't see anything."

Danielle quickly got up and snatched the notepad Shy kept handy on the nightstand. Handing it and the pen with it to her twin, Shy hastily scribbled a note and showed it.

**There was a man in the street. The archer ghost was with him. It was right outside the window.**

Danny's fists clenched and he turned to his father. "We should raise the ghost shield, in case they come back."

Jack nodded, and the two left the room, leaving Maddie with the girls.

It didn't take long to activate the ghost shield, and by the time they had, Maddie had calmed Shy down and the twins were settled back in their beds.

The house fell silent as everyone went back to sleep, the only sound being the distant thunder outside.

"_What is taking so long?"_

"I've only tried to get her twice."

"_You said you'd have her weeks ago!"_

"I said I'd get her. I never said how long it'd take."

There was a hissing noise over the phone before Haast spoke, his voice forcibly calm. _"We need the girl if our experiments are to continue. I'm not going to risk you striking out on a third try. The next time you get them alone, use the green switch."_

"Then what?"

"_Don't worry about that. Just get the girl back here."_

A click and dial tone ended the call.


	12. Gone

_I'm sorry. You can all kill me._

* * *

The late night scare did nothing to ease Shy's already tense nerves.

She seemed to be stuck on two modes; mostly, she was withdrawn and subdue, keeping her head low and not really acknowledging anyone. But a sudden noise, even something like a pen falling off a desk, caused her to jump violently and go stiff for about five seconds. A door slamming sent her bolting out of the room.

It was better at school, but not by much. Not wanting to draw too much attention, Shy managed to restrain herself from bolting out the door at least. She was still jumpy though, so much in fact that when Mr. Vindant asked her if she was feeling well, she shook her head no and he sent her to the nurse's office.

As soon as the class was over, Danielle went down to the nurse's office to check on Shy. The nurse informed her that Maddie had come by and taken Shy home. This eased Danielle's mind a little.

She informed Danny, Sam, and Tucker that Shy went home during lunch. They all agreed she was probably safer there. They then further discussed how they could find information on this bounty hunter trying to catch her, but once again, only came up with blanks.

"He's got to be staying in a hotel, right?" Danielle said, running her hands through her hair. "Can't we hack into hotel systems or something and get a list of suspects?"

Tucker shook his head. "For one, he could have a friend or partner; a human one, that is," he clarified, "who he's staying with. Two, a lot of people come here sightseeing, so the hotels get packed. Reservations are made pretty much a month or two in advance. He might not even be _staying_ in Amity, he could be two or three towns over. And three, hotels take names, not pictures, and since we don't know his name, that'd be no help."

Danielle groaned as her head fell on the table. "And there's no search we can do solely on description, right?" she muttered.

"Nope."

"And we can't go to the police without a legit reason," Sam sighed.

"Not with the chance he could blow our secret," Danny said. "Why else would he have come to our house? He had to have seen us transform or someone gave him info."

"With his ghost goons he has ghost zone connections, so he probably just had them ask around to get info on you and then put two and two together," Sam added.

"But we've never seen snake guy's ghostly hit men before, so they're not in our files. And the vastness of the ghost zone means we can't go asking every single ghost if they know these two." Tucker crumpled up his napkin in a ball and dropped it on his tray. "So thus, we have nothing but dead ends."

Danielle raised her head and glared at him. "Thank you, for that lovely summery of the situation."

Danny frowned slightly. Shy wasn't the only one whose nerves were taunt. They all were, but since that storm Danielle had grown more and more irritable. Shy was the only one she acted calmly around. In fact, she seemed _overly_ calm around Shy. With everyone else she just seemed frustrated and annoyed.

Danny knew this was probably out of concern for Shy, but he had a hunch there was something else to it.

"Danielle, can I talk to you for a minute?"

The other three all looked at him. Danielle blinked and followed him as he left the table. They walked over to one of the trees in the school yard and Danny turned to face her.

"Look, I know you're worried about Shy, we all are, but we're doing everything we can to find out who's hunting her. It's not our fault we've got nothing. He's a bounty hunter, leaving no trace is part of his job," he explained.

Danielle was silent for a moment before sighing heavily. "I know," she mumbled.

Danny cocked his head at her. "So what else is bothering you?"

Danielle frowned and opened her mouth to object, but Danny held up his hand. "I can tell," he said simply.

His younger cousin closed her mouth and huffed. After a moment of silence, she muttered. "We didn't have any trouble, not like this, anyway, before coming here. We come here and suddenly Shy's being hunted like a wild deer...maybe it would have been better if I had just kept my mouth shut."

Now Danny understood. She was feeling guilty.

"Does Shy think that?"

Danielle looked up at him. "What?"

Danny shrugged. "Does Shy think you shouldn't have come? Is she blaming you for what's happening?"

She slowly shook her head. "No...I mean, I don't think so."

"Then why blame yourself?"

"Because it was my idea to come!"

"But does Shy blame you?"

Danielle opened her mouth, then shut it and frowned.

Danny sighed quietly. "Danielle, we have no way of knowing if this guy would have found you two whether you had come back or not. He obviously has information on Shy, for all we know, he could be tracking her. He could have caught up to you to somewhere else, and then you would have had to handle him by yourselves." He smiled gently. "If anyone's to blame, it's snake guy. Not you or anyone else. I doubt Shy's blaming you," he added.

His younger cousin stared at the ground for a minute before slowly looking up with a grateful look. As she opened her mouth to thank him, though, a puff of blue mist exited both their mouths.

A second later there was a terrified scream.

The two Fentons whipped around just as a flurry of green fire appeared in the middle of the school yard. Students scrambled out of the way, pushing and shoving as they fled.

The flamethrower ghost looked around, like he was looking for something. Or someone.

Danielle gritted her teeth. "These guys have terrible timing," she hissed.

"Then let's teach them some manners," Danny said. "I'm Going Ghost!"

White rings appeared around the two teens bodies and engulfed them in white light.

Curling her hands, Danielle took off into the air, her fists glowing with ecto-energy. "Yo, flameyo!"

The ghost looked over to her and its eyes narrowed.

Danielle raised her fist. "Like playing with fire? Then prepare to get burned!" She fired a ghost ray and it hit the ghost in the chest, knocking him back into a table.

Danny came up behind him and shot an ice ray. The ghost countered by quickly turning and aiming its nozzle at him. Green flames drowned out the blue ray. Danny flew up to avoid the fire and the ghost gave chase.

Sam and Tucker, who had ducked under their table when the ghost appeared, crawled out now.

"Danny's got the thermos ri—eep!" Tucker jumped back into Sam as an arrow sank into the ground inches from his foot.

The archer ghost floated a few feet away, aiming another arrow at them. "Where is the gold one," it demanded.

"They're here for Shy!" Tucker exclaimed.

"No duh, Sherlock!" Sam snapped.

The archer's eyes narrowed beneath hiss hood as he released the arrow. Sam and Tucker dove aside as the arrow whizzed past and impaled a tree.

"Come on!" Tucker shouted, grabbing Sam's wrist and pulling her along as he ran towards the street.

The archer shot a few more arrows after them, which they managed to dodge, but then flew up to join his partner when he saw his target wasn't with them.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked, looking up to where the archer joined the flamethrower in its fight against the Phantom duo.

Still running, Tucker looked over his shoulder at her. "If those two are here then snake guy must be nearby!"

"What makes you think that? We haven't seen him around before!"

"We haven't been looking, have we? Call it a hunch! If he is here, he'll be watching!"

* * *

Shy's head snapped up from her history book as a loud _Clank!_ sounded from the basement. Since Maddie had picked her up from school earlier, she'd sat down in the kitchen and started on her homework. Or what she could do, at least.

Jack and Maddie had been in the basement all morning working on the Specter Speeder. Apparently one of the engines had been damaged the last time it had been used. That had been before she and Danielle had arrived.

While she was used to the distant drilling and buzzing noises, the occasional bangs and clanks made her jump. Maddie had warned her there'd be noise before she had gone down to the lab, but her brain seemed to have trouble registering the noises as harmless.

Placing her hands on either side of her head, the peach haired girl's chin dropped on the table as she took a few slow, deep breaths to calm her racing heartbeat. This was insane. The ghost shield was up, so no ghost could get in, and it seemed unlikely the snake guy would try and come on his own. Besides, they knew what he looked like. Jack and Maddie would probably start shooting on sight.

Shy tried to turn her attention back to her work, but the noises from the lab made her mind wander again...she could always shut the door, but even though some of the noises made her jump, they also reminded her she wasn't home alone. That relaxed her a bit.

Maddie had also mentioned she would be running more tests on her ectoplasm sample. Besides the strange chemical, they had yet to identify what else was in Shy's bloodstream.

She wrinkled her nose and sighed. Danielle had been right on when she had commented on her being like soup. Though it didn't really matter that much to her what was _in _her blood...or ectoplasm, whatever. She was more concerned about how it _got_ there.

Deciding to take a small break and distract herself, Shy leaned over and grabbed the remote to the small tv on the counter. Flicking through the channels and seeing nothing very interesting, she settled on the local news.

"This just in! We bring you a live report from Casper High, where the famed Phantom Duo has been sighted fighting two ghosts! There is no sign of the Soul Whisperer at this time! Local police are evacuating the school-!"

The rest was ignored as Shy jumped from her seat and starred wide eyed at the screen as it flashed to live coverage. A blonde man stood across the street from the school, where two black and white figures shot green rays at a cloaked red figure and one wielding a silver nozzle.

The remote fell to the table with a clatter as Shy snatched a piece of paper from her note book. Hastily scribbling a note, she went intangible and sank through the floor.

"Shy? What—" Maddie started to ask when Shy landed in front of her, but the peach haired girl thrust the paper into the woman's hands before flying back up through the ceiling.

A ring of white flashed around her as she went straight through the floors and came out of the roof.

Soul turned and flew off towards the school.

* * *

Danielle swung her leg around, sending a blade of green light at the archer. The bow was knocked from his hands, and before the ghost could try and recover it, the girl tackled him. They twisted in the air as the archer tried to throw her off.

Meanwhile, Danny had managed to grab hold of the flamethrower's nozzle and was pushing it against its holder while the latter tried to force the halfa off.

The archer swung his arm and knocked Danielle upside the head, successfully throwing the girl off him. Danielle back flipped and shook her head, then growled and started firing ghost rays at him. The archer dove towards the ground to retrieve his bow as the female halfa flew after him.

But the archer reached his weapon and snatched it up. Quickly, he pulled out an arrow and aimed it at the white haired girl. Danielle kicked her leg and an icicle shot towards the archer as he fired. The arrow snapped upon impact with the pointed ice and crashed into the ghost. He went flying back into the school wall with a _wham!_

Danny fired green light from his eyes and hit the flamethrower square in the face. The ghost roared in pain and blindly swung his arm. His fist connected with Danny's jaw and sent the ghost boy flying towards Danielle.

The two halfas crashed into each other and dropped like rocks to the ground. Danny landed first and Danielle bounced off him, falling flat on her stomach.

The flamethrower shook his head and grabbed the nozzle, pointing it at the Phantom duo. The switch flicked and green flames sped toward the two.

There was a bright flash and the flames collided with a wall of white that fell in front of the Phantoms.

Arms crossed and a furious frown on her face, Soul stood balanced on top of the shield and glared at the ghost.

* * *

"Any luck?"

The Techno Geek shook his head as he looked among the people who had gathered across the street to watch. "Nothing. I don't see him."

Sam frowned worriedly and tried to look over the heads of people. "He could be in disguise, Tucker. He knows you and Shy saw him."

Tucker's brow furrowed. "Maybe..." he mused, "but—wait!"

Sam's head snapped to look at him. The Techno Geek had started weaving through people, rising on his toes to see over their heads as he pushed his way through.

Sam hurried after him. "You see him?"

"Yes! Excuse me, pardon me. He just went around that building! Move please, coming through."

Once the people started to thin out, the two teens broke into a run and darted around the corner.

Tucker suddenly came to a halt, making Sam run into him. Slapping a hand over her mouth before she could say anything, Tucker steered her around the corner and flatted them both against the wall.

Sam pushed his hand off and glared at him. "What?" she demanded.

Tucker waved a hand for her to be quiet as he cautiously peered around the corner.

"I doubt he can hear us," the Goth girl muttered, but nothing less she spoke quietly and looked around the side of the building as well.

About halfway down the street, a man in a leather jacket and sunglasses stood, talking into a cellphone. Both teens were silent as they strained to hear, but it did them no good. He was too far away.

* * *

"She's here."

"_Good. Use the switch, we'll handle the rest from here. Just make sure your henchmen can get her back._"

"They will."

* * *

The two teens watched the man as he talked on the phone for a few minutes before putting it away. He then pulled out a remote like device with a jagged rod sticking out of the front. A red button was in the center, but the man ignored it and flipped it over. He lifted what seemed to be a small flap and turned to face the school.

Sam and Tucker quickly ducked around the corner before he could spot them. They exchanged worried looks.

"What do you think that is?" Sam asked.

"I don't know, but how much you wanna bet it means trouble?" Tucker replied.

* * *

Soul growled and flung a white orb at the flamethrower. It struck his chest and exploded, rocketing him back a dozen feet or so.

The shield disappeared as Soul jumped down and offered a hand to the Phantoms. Danny took it while Danielle leapt to her feet.

"Nice timing," Danny commented, and Soul grinned in response.

An arrow suddenly whizzed by, narrowly missing Soul's arm. Danielle spun out of its path and the three looked over where it had come from.

The archer aimed another arrow at them, or more specifically, Soul.

"Does he _ever_ run out of those things?" Danielle groaned.

The arrow was released and flew towards the trio. The three took off in different directions, flying up into the air. The archer followed, pulling out another arrow. This one turned to ice in his hand, however, as Danny flew towards him while firing an ice ray. Before the archer could grab another arrow, Danny punched him in the face and sent him propelling sideways.

Danielle twisted around and saw the flamethrower coming back, heading for Soul. The ghost girl shot a beam of white at the ghost, who dodged and sent a spiral of flames her way.

Soul flung up a shield and shot into the sky.

* * *

From his spot on the street, Rinkhals could see which ghost was where as they flew above the high school. Black and white, red, black and white, green...ahhh, there it was. A flash of gold.

Holding the device up, he opened the flap and flicked the green switch on the back.

* * *

_Erebos Laboratories_

"Sir, they've been activated."

Haast turned to look at the man sitting at one of the computers. He quirked a thin brow. "You know what to do."

The man nodded and turned back to his computer. He started pressing buttons and lights flashed as the machines around him began to hum.

"How long will it take?"

"A few minutes, Sir. No more than five, even if the subject tries to fight."

Haast smirked coldly. "Excellent."

* * *

Danny fired an ice ray at the archer. The beam froze the bow and both the archer's arms as it had prepared to fire an arrow. The ghost's eyes narrowed as he tried to break free.

Danny had opened his mouth to taunt the ghost, when the archer suddenly stopped struggling. Instead, he turned his eyes away from Danny.

Frowning, Danny looked up.

Danielle, floating a few feet above him, was looking up as well, her eyes wide.

And above her, the flamethrower had stopped attacking as well. He simply floated and watched.

An uneasy feeling churned in Danny's stomach as he slowly turned his gaze to where they were all looking.

He gasped.

Soul was clutching her head between her hands as she leaned forward, her eyes wide with a mixture of shock and fear. Her face, contort with pain, was pale and her body jerked every few seconds.

Danielle snapped out of her shock first, and darted towards her twin. Danny followed not far behind.

Neither the archer nor flamethrower tried to stop them. They just watched.

And waited.

* * *

"Successes, Sir. We have full control."

"Then let us have some fun, shall we?"

* * *

"Soul?" Danny asked worriedly.

The girl didn't seem to hear him. Her body gave a violent jerk, her back arching, before she suddenly went still.

"Shy, what's—" Danielle started to ask, reaching a hand towards her sister's shoulder.

Soul's arms dropped to her side like dead weights. Slowly, she straightened up, her arms hanging limply at her side. She turned her head slightly, her eyelids drooping and her eyes glazed over. Almost like she was half-asleep...

But she wasn't, Danny realized with horror as she slowly raised a hand. It began to glow.

"MOVE!" he shouted and tackled Danielle, pushing them both out of the way.

A split second after they'd moved, a blast of energy flew right where they had been and crashed into the ground. The following explosion filled the air with dust and left a small crater in the ground.

Danielle stared in shock at her sister. Pushing away from Danny, she stammered in confusion, "Wha-Shy-why?"

Soul did not answer. She didn't even look up. She just moved her arm so it was aimed at them.

Danny acted quickly, flying in front of Danielle and throwing up a shield as the white beam shot towards them. It collided with the green square and vanished. Soul drew her arm back and fired another. Danny grunted as the beam once again hit his shield dead on.

"Shy it's us!" Danielle cried, flying out from behind Danny, her eyes wide and pleading as her twin slowly turned towards her.

"Danielle don't-!" Danny started, reaching for her.

But he was too late.

Soul flung an orb of white at Danielle, who was too shocked to react. The orb reached her and, upon touching her arm, exploded, sending the female halfa plummeting to the ground.

Danny immediately dived after her, managing to catch her before she hit the ground. He was forced to make a sharp turn to avoid crashing into the earth himself.

Soul drifted towards the halfas, her hands glowing as light began swirling around them.

Danny gritted his teeth as he slammed on the brakes and threw up another shield, this one encircling the two Phantoms completely.

"What's going on? Why-why's she doing this?" Danielle stammered, her voice tight as she looked at Danny.

"She's being controlled," Danny replied, his eyes narrowing as he looked up at his younger cousin. "She has no choice."

Soul drew an arm back, preparing to strike-

And froze.

* * *

"Sir, we're losing power."

Haast clicked his tongue. "Already? Shame, it was just getting good." The man sighed. "Very well, bring her back."

"Yes sir."

* * *

The two phantoms stared as the ghost girl just hovered above them, one arm poised to strike, but made no other move to attack.

The archer and flamethrower, who had been watching the whole thing, looked at each other with narrowed eyes and started towards the ghost girl.

Danielle noticed and gasped. She abruptly shoved Danny, who, with his concentration broken, toppled over and the shield disappeared.

The female halfa shot up into the sky and, being closer, reached her twin before the other ghosts did. Soul made no sign of noticing her, she remained stiff and frozen in place.

Danielle grasped her shoulders and shook her. "Shy look at me!" she ordered, her voice cracking with desperation. "Snap out of it! It's me, Danielle! Fight this—this-whatever the heck it is! Shy, look at me! SHY!"

For a split second, Soul's arms slowly started to lower and she raised her head a fraction. Then, her eyes flew open and her body went rigid.

Danielle recoiled and Danny's eyes widened. "Danielle!"

Soul's arm snapped out in front of her, and a beam of white light hit the female halfa in the stomach, sending her spiraling across the sky.

Danny jumped up to catch her, but the force threw them both back and tumbling to the ground. Shaking his head with a groan, Danny gasped and looked over at Soul.

She was limp now, her arms simply hanging at her sides as she floated in the air.

The archer appeared on one side of her, with the flamethrower on the other. Each grabbed one of her arms, and Soul made no attempt to stop them. Her head simply lowered, concealing her face from view.

He knew what was about to happen even before it did, and from the look on Danielle's face, so did she. Or she suspected it, at least, for she tried one last time to go to her sister. But Danny grabbed her and held her back.

Green fire swirled around the flamethrower and archer, engulfing them both and Soul in the spinning flames.

And just like that, they were gone.

* * *

_Author's notes_

_Danielle will drop the "Soul" name and use "Shy" when she gets worried._


	13. Into Thin Air

"What was THAT?" Sam exclaimed, pointing to the cloud of dust rising in the schoolyard.

Tucker's eyes widened and he quickly looked back around the corner. The man still stood in the street, watching the school. He had put the device away, and if the way his lips had twitched upon seeing the dust cloud, it only confirmed the Techno Geeks fear that things could not be going well for his friends.

Minutes ticked by, and the dust started to settle, but not enough for the two teens to be able to see what was happening.

Tucker frowned determinedly and pushed back the sleeve of his yellow hoodie, revealing a silver bracelet. "Sam," he said firmly, looking at the Goth girl. "We have to catch this guy."

The girl blinked. "We can't shoot him. He's a human!"

"We just have to injure him enough so he can't get away. Aim for his legs or something," the Techno Geek replied.

Sam frowned for a moment, then nodded and pushed back her own sleeve, reveling a matching bracelet.

Sliding his glasses up on his nose, Tucker peered around the corner again, a finger poised to push a button on the bracelet. Sam did the same.

Both teens gasped in shock and stepped out from behind the building.

The man was gone.

"WHAT!" Tucker yelped, looking wildly around. "That's—how—he was just-!" he threw up his arms in bewilderment. "Where'd he go? He can't possibly move that fast, no one can!"

"Tucker, look!" Sam suddenly shouted, pointing down the street behind them.

A retreating black figure was walking it.

Tucker blinked. "How'd he get over there?"

"Does it matter? After him!" the Goth girl yelled, sprinting after the man. Tucker quickly followed her.

The man looked over his shoulder and saw them. He stopped for a moment, then broke into a run and turned onto another street. The two teens chased after him, their hands poised to fire should they get close enough.

The problem was, he had a head start.

And longer legs.

* * *

The blue sky and cheering crowd below was the exact opposite of the panic swirling in Danielle's mind.

Breaking free from Danny's grip, she flew to where Soul and the two ghosts had been only moments ago.

"Where'd they go!" she cried, franticly looking around.

Danny flew over to his cousin and she turned to him, her face stricken.

Danny had to fight down his own panic and rage. He was amazed how calm his voice sounded as he answered. "I don't know, but we'll find her."

His younger cousin did not look very assured by this. In fact, it seemed to have the opposite effect he had hoped for. She grabbed handfuls of her hair and began breathing heavily as her body trembled.

Alarmed, Danny grasped her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "Danielle, _listen_ to me. We are going to find Shy, all right? They are _not_ going to get away with this. We'll get her back, I promise. But you need to calm down right now, okay? Freaking out is not going to help Shy, and it's not going to help you either. Take a deep breath, and slowly let it out," he coaxed.

For a minute, Danielle just stared at him with panic filled eyes. Then, she did as he said and took a deep breath, slowly letting it out.

"Good. Now again," he said gently.

She did so, and her shoulders relaxed a bit.

Danny gave a small smile. "Now let's go find Tucker and Sam and get started on finding out where they might have taken Shy, all right?"

Danielle nodded.

* * *

Tucker panted heavily as he pushed himself to keep up with Sam. His legs were burning and they still weren't close enough to the man to shoot. Not without the risk of hitting something else, anyway.

He heard Sam growl in front of him. "We'll never catch him at this rate!" she shouted in frustration.

Suddenly coming to a halt, the Goth girl pointed her arm at the man and pressed the button on her bracelet. Tucker skidded to a stop as a bright green laser shot from the girl's wrist and sped towards the man.

For a second, it looked like it was going to hit him, but the man suddenly turned, dodged the laser, and continued running.

The two teens blinked stupidly for a moment, staring where the laser had struck a building. Sam threw back her head and screamed, making Tucker jump. Her violet eyes flashed angrily and she dashed after the man once more. Tucker ran after her.

* * *

Danny scanned the streets below as he flew. Danielle was right next to him, her eyes locked on the ground below as they searched for their friends.

Then, Danny spotted a familiar red beret. "There!" he said, pointing.

The two Phantoms drifted closer, and it was then they both noticed that Tucker and Sam were running. Danny frowned and turned his head, his gaze locking onto a black figure a ways ahead of the two teens.

His eyes widened. "That must—!" his sentence was cut off as a gust of wind buffeted him in the face.

Danielle had spotted the man and realized who he was. And now she was flying straight at him.

Danny quickly dived after her.

* * *

"Give me one of your gadgets!"

"Why?"

"So I can throw it at him! Maybe it'll knock him out or make him stumble or something that will let us catch up to him!"

"WHAT? I'm not letting you use any of my gadgets for that! Use a rock!"

"There aren-!"

Sam's sentence was abruptly cut off as a black and white blur came out of nowhere and tackled the black figure up ahead. Both teens skidded to a halt as both figures flew back into the sky.

"Something tells me things have gone very, very wrong," Tucker said slowly.

* * *

Danielle gripped the collar of the man's jacket as she flew higher. For his part, snake guy didn't make a sound, aside from a grunt when she had first tackled him.

When they were a good hundred feet or so, the female halfa stopped. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she held the man up.

"Where. Is. My sister." She snarled.

The man reminded silent.

Danielle narrowed her eyes and leaned closer. "We're about a hundred feet up, your goons aren't here, and I _will_ drop you," she hissed. "Start. Talking."

"I'd do as she says," Danny said, flying up behind his cousin. His eyes were cold as he looked at the man.

The silence seemed to drag on, Danielle's patience thinning with every passing second. She was just about ready to drop the man, when he spoke.

"Haast."

Two pairs of green eyes blinked. "What?" they asked in unison.

"Haast," the man repeated. "He's the guy who hired me."

Then, to the shock of the two teens, the man grabbed Danielle's wrists and, her grip having loosened out of surprise, forced them off.

"What the-!" Danny exclaimed as the man plummeted to the earth.

The Phantoms both made a move to go after him, when a swirl of green fire appeared below them. The archer ghost reached out and snatched his bosses arm, then disappeared in another swirl of flames.

The teens in the air and the teens on the ground both stared, dumbfounded, at the place where the man had vanished.

Danielle snapped out of it first. Her fists clenching at her sides, the female halfa turned and flew off. Danny gasped and started to follow her when he thought of something.

Diving down towards Sam and Tucker, the ghost boy stopped in front of them. "Where's Shy?" Sam asked when he stopped.

"Gone. The ghosts got her," he muttered darkly. Then, he turned to Tucker. "Do a search for the name Haast. Get any information related to the name, especially if it has ghost connections somewhere," he said quickly.

The Techno Geek blinked in confusion, but whipped out his PDA regardless. "I can do it faster if I have my computer at home running the same search," he stated.

"Then do that," Danny replied. Tucker nodded and took off down the street. The ghost boy then turned to Sam. "Call my parents and get them up to date on what's happening," he instructed.

She gave him an incredulous look. "You want me to tell them their niece was kidnapped over the_ phone_?"

Danny hesitated for a minute. "No, just," he groaned under his breath, "tell them we'll be home soon and there's a lot to explain, all right?"

Without waiting for a reply, he shot up into the sky and took off in the direction Danielle had gone.

He knew exactly what she was thinking of doing.

* * *

The wind stung her eyes and loose strands of hair whipped her face, but Danielle refused to slow down. Not even for a second.

Danny's voice came from behind her, but still she did not stop. On the contrary, she sped up. Or tried to, at least.

There was a whooshing sound, and then a sudden amount of weight tackled her.

She somersaulted a few times before coming to a stop and found her arms pinned at her side. Blinking, she saw it was Danny.

Danielle's eyes narrowed and she tried to break free, but he kept his grip.

"Let me go!" she snapped.

"You can't go after her!"

"Yes I can!"

"How? You don't know where they took her!"

"I don't care!"

"Getting yourself lost won't help Shy!"

For a minute, the female halfa remained tense, and Danny expected her to try and throw him off. Which is why he was surprised when she just sagged.

Once certain she wasn't going to take off again, Danny released her.

She hovered for a moment, arms limp at her sides, before slowly turning around. Her snowy bangs covered her face, avoiding eye contact.

"Danielle..." He made a move to touch her shoulder, but she jerked away and floated past him.

"Let's go," was all she said.

* * *

The second the two teens walked through the door of FentonWorks, Jack and Maddie were upon them. They immediately asked where Shy was, and strangely, Danielle stalked out of the room, leaving Danny to explain what had happened.

Maddie turned pale and sank into a chair. Jack gripped the back of it as a grim look crossed his usually happy face.

"What do we do?" Maddie asked, looking up her son.

"Tucker's running a search on the name, but until he finds something," Danny sighed. "There's not much we can do."

* * *

_Erebos Laboratories_

Haast mouth was set in a firm line, but in his eyes was an unmistakable look of triumph as he stood in front of the glass panel.

"Sir?"

He blinked, and the look vanished, replaced with a cold glare as he turned to face the man who had come up behind him. "Yes?"

The scientist cleared his throat nervously. "The subject is still proving resistant to our weapons. Should we try the shock waves now?"

Narrowing his eyes a fraction, Haast turned back to the window. "Resistant, you say?" he murmured. "Then tell me, what is she covered in?"

The scientist blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"The subject. What is she covered in?"

"Ectoplasm, sir."

"And our weapons have been making contact, correct?"

"Yes sir."

"Then I'd say everything is going well, wouldn't you?"

"But sir, she hasn't dissolved like our previous experiments! Isn't that the whole point of our research? To make weapons that destroy a ghost instantly?"

"Yes."

"Then shouldn't we—"

Haast turned his head and the man froze. His boss's eyes glared icily at him. "You were informed at the beginning that this subject was going to be different, were you not?" he asked sharply.

The man hesitated a second before nodding.

"Then don't ask questions and just do as you're told. Everything is going as it should be."

The scientist opened his mouth, and then thought better of it. "Yes sir," he replied weakly.

Haast turned back to the window again. His voice was calm once more when he spoke. "Is there anything else?"

"No sir."

"Then proceed with using the weapons. The shock waves are not to be used."

"Yes sir."

Once the sound of footsteps signaled the man had left, Haast returned his gaze to the figure in the room below.

A black and gold figure collapsed to the floor just as a blast of energy sped was fired.

* * *

_Author's notes_

_Would Danielle actually have dropped Rinkhal's? Yes, she would have. But she would have caught him...seconds before he hit the ground...that or Danny would have._

_This is the last time you see Rinkhal's. Like Danny said, he's a bounty hunter, not leaving a trail is part of their job. And Rinkhal's is very, **very** good at that._

_Why did he tell them anything? Did he feel pity? Was he actually intimated by them? Did he just want to toy with them by giving them nothing but a name? Or did he just decide, "screw it my job's done, here's his name"?_

_We'll never know._


	14. Sketch

"_How's your arm?"_

_The peach haired girl shrugged and cringed, said limb protesting the movement._

_Danielle bit her lip and looked around, holding her glowing hand out in front of her. The girls had taken refuge in the hayloft of a small barn on the outskirts of the town. It was dark, the only light coming from a single window on the north side of the barn. Just to be safe, though, and make sure no one saw them, the girls had moved some hay bales into a wall at the back of the barn. This cut off the light source completely, but the girls didn't need it anyway._

_Flapping and scratching noises sounded above them as bats awoke to go on their nightly hunt for food. Shy sneezed and rubbed her nose with her good arm. Danielle glanced down at the other one. It looked a little better since they had washed it off, using a hose they had found on the side of the barn, and the hissing noise had stopped, but it still looked pretty bad._

_Stupid rookie ghost hunter and his stupid gun..._

"_You sure you're okay?" _

_Shy looked at her and smiled. Pulling out a small notepad, she laid it on her leg and scribbled a note. She then handed it to the black haired girl._

_Danielle moved her hand over the paper so she could read it properly._

_**It is fine. A little sore, but not nearly as much as before.**_

_Danielle looked up at her. She hesitated before asking the question that had been bothering her all day. "Do you know why you," she gestured awkwardly at the girl's arm, "ya know."_

_Shy shook her head. Then warily, she looked at her arm._

_**Do all ghost weapons hurt this much?**_

_Danielle bit her lip. "Not that I know of," she replied. "But I got hit too, and it didn't do that to me."_

_Shy gave a soft whine, a noise Danielle had come to associate with distress. Knowing exactly that the other girl's thoughts were turning to scalpels, needles, and dissection, she sat up straight._

"_Nah ah, none of that!" She held up a fist and lifted her chin, a fierce gleam in her baby blue eyes. "Don't you worry, if we run into any more ghost hunters, I'll take care of 'em. Nobody's gonna drag you off to some lab on my watch! I've got your back!"_

_Shy looked up at her, and sure enough, a grateful smile spread across her face. She touched her fist to Danielle's._

_**And I've got yours.**_

* * *

Danielle brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. Night had fallen over an hour ago, and the house was quiet. The only sound was coming from Danny's room, and even that was muffled.

The female halfa sat in her room, curled up on the window seat. She'd been like that since Danny had said there was nothing they could do until Tucker's search found something. Apparently, there were quite a few people who qualified to be on the front pages of Google.

So she'd retreated to her room. She'd been tempted to try and sneak away, to go after Shy on her own, but she knew what Danny said before was true. She didn't know where the ghosts had taken Shy, and getting lost wouldn't help get her back.

Danielle growled in frustration. She hated sitting around doing nothing! All it did was give her time to think about what they could be doing to Shy, and none of the images were pretty.

Her eyes strayed around the room until they fell on Shy's nightstand. Her sketchbook lay there, untouched.

Since sleep obviously was not going to come to her anytime soon, Danielle walked over and sat down on the bed. Taking the sketchbook in her lap, she started flipping through it.

Most of the sketches Shy had done from memory of the girl's travels. There was one of the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, Stonehenge, Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, and more. There were drawings of rolling hills, fields of flowers, beautiful forests, and some of just the sky. There were even some of houses and towns.

Danielle paused when she reached the page with Shy's attempts at drawing her parents. The faces were still blank and a few more had been scribbled over. She sighed and turned the page.

She blinked. It wasn't a drawing she'd seen before.

It looked like a room. Very vague and certainly lacking the detail Shy's drawings usually had, but it had enough detail that Danielle was positive _she'd_ never seen the room before.

Danielle frowned and held the drawing at arm's length, studying it. Her first thought was it was Shy attempting to remember something about her old house, but it didn't look like a room someone would live in.

Large rectangles that she assumed to be screens hung on the walls, and squares with circles were below them. In the center was a larger rectangle standing upright with four half circles, two on top, two on bottom.

Like...restraints...

Her eyes widened. "DANNY!"

* * *

"_Danny, you need to calm down,"_ Sam said gently.

The blue eyed boy turned away from the computer, clutching fistfuls of hair. Sam had video chatted him shortly after her parents had gone to bed. Tucker had joined them a little later, but had nothing to report on the search, except that he was still trying.

Neither had been very surprised to find their friend working himself into a panicked frenzy.

"I can't calm down! My parents are scientists, Sam! I've been hearing about ghost experimentation since I was born! I know _exactly_ what this Haast guy could be doing to Shy right now!" Danny exclaimed.

"_We're not even sure the guy is a scientist_," the girl reminded him.

"What else could he be?"

"_A ghost poacher?"_ Tucker suggested.

"_Not helping..."_

Danny groaned and sank into the chair in front of the desk, his head in his hands.

"_Ya know, it's kinda cute how quickly you've taken to being a big brother,"_ Tucker said lightly.

"_Now's not the time, Tuck,"_ Sam muttered.

"I just wish I knew why these people want Shy so badly. Why do they need _her_? Won't some other ghost work for their experiments?"

"_You know, I was thinking about that too,"_ the Goth girl stated. "_If these guys really want to test their work, wouldn't they want to go after the most powerful ghost?"_

"Like me?"

"_Exactly. You're _famous_, you'd think these guys would be hounding you like every other ghost hunter out there. Instead, you were just an obstacle they had to get by."_

"_Maybe...in a sense, they _were_ after him,"_ Tucker mused.

The other two looked at him. "What?"

"_Your Mom said it. Shy's a lot like you, Danny. Timid, easily spooked, paranoid...even more then you," _he added in afterthought.

"I'm not following."

"_Hear me out. We've established you're famous, so it's safe to assume these guys _have_ heard of you. Probably even looked you up. Now, let's say they have figured out what no one else seems to have, and that trying to capture and experiment on you would only result in failure and multiple injuries."_

His friends nodded.

The Techno Geek held up one hand. "_Okay, now, look at yourself. You started out as this skittish little wimp of a kid who was afraid of using your own powers and insanely paranoid about them being found out."_

"Skittish, little, wimp, huh?" Danny said flatly.

Tucker ignored him and continued. "_And now you're one of, if not _the_, most powerful ghost in the ghost zone and earth." _He held up his other hand. "_Now look at the twins. Danielle may be your clone, and we'll assume these guys don't know that, but she is far more outgoing and bold then you've ever been. Heck, if it weren't for the fact she looks just like you, only female and all, no one would ever make the connection you two are related in any sense of the word. Shy, on the other hand, may not look like you, but she _acts_ a lot like you."_

"_Under, let's just say normal because we have no better word to use, circumstances, Danielle would be considered more powerful because she's more aggressive. Shy, not so much, because she's more defensive then offensive. However, when we throw you, the not considered big threat turned to biggest threat of all time, into the mix…well, which twin would you want?"_

"So, basically what you're saying, they knew they couldn't get me...so they went with what they thought would be the next best thing?"

"_Yup."_

"..._How does that make any sense?"_ Sam asked.

"_Hey, I'm just saying. We've dealt with a lot of crazies in this line of work. It wouldn't surprise me at all if someone made that connection."_

Danny sighed heavily. "Just please tell me you've found _something_ in the past few minutes, Tucker," he pleaded.

The Techno Geek gave him a sympathetic look. "_Sorry man, no dice yet."_

The black haired boy's head dropped again.

"_I'll keep looking, dude. If I have to stay up all night, I _will_ find this guy. No one can hide from-!"_

"DANNY!"

Three heads snapped towards the door as it flew open and a blur of blue and black flew in.

"Danielle-?" Danny's sentence was cut off as his younger cousin thrust a book in his face.

"What does this look like?" she demanded.

"Lines," he replied, pushing the book away.

Danielle rolled her eyes in frustration and held the book up again. "Look at it!"

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

Danny glanced at the computer, and Sam and Tucker both shrugged. Arching a brow at his cousin, he looked at the book again.

"It's one of Shy's sketches," he said. "What about it?"

"Look in the _middle_," Danielle tapped her finger on the square. "Remind you of anything?"

Danny frowned and looked again. He blinked and snatched the sketchbook out of her hands.

"_What is it?"_ Sam asked.

A dark look crossed Danny's face as he turned the sketchbook around to face the screen. "It's a device like the one Vlad used when he tried to 'break down' Danielle."

The female halfa winced.

"_Can it help us find Shy?"_ Sam questioned.

Danny shrugged helplessly. "Not really, there's nothing in the drawing to identify the lab. All this really tells us is that, at some point, Shy remembers being in a lab."

"Which I'll bet we can safely assume has to do with Haast," Danielle muttered.

Tucker's brows suddenly arched in surprise and he leaned forward. "_Dude, bring that thing closer."_

Danny complied, and Tucker squinted as he studied the drawing. "_Okay, call me crazy, but that room looks familiar."_

Twin sets of blue eyes stared at him with surprise. Violet eyes shared the same expression.

"_How? It's a basic room with screens, buttons, and a square in the middle_," Sam stated.

"_I know, I know,"_ the Techno Geek muttered. "_But, that machine in the corner."_

The two Fentons pointed at said part of the drawing at once. "This?" they asked.

"_Yeah. It kinda looks like one of the scanners at Axion Labs."_

"_It's a box with buttons. How does it look different than any other scanner's we've seen?"_

"_The way the buttons are arranged. See how the side buttons form l's?"_

"I'm both weirded out and impressed," Danielle cocked her head. "That possible?"

"Around Tucker, yes," Danny replied.

"_So, what? We search Haast's name with Axion?"_ Sam said.

"_It might be a long shot, but yes."_

"Uh, Tucker, what does this machine do, exactly?" Danny asked a bit uneasily.

"_You remember the Bloodstream Nanobots?"_

"Yes," he replied.

"Blood _what_ now?"

"I'll tell you later."

"_Well, Axion was working on upgrading them so they could control more than just breathing and heart rate," _Tucker continued.

"_Like full body control?"_ Sam asked, frowning.

"_Try _total _control. They'd allow unlimited control over the mind and body, and they're made with special technology so they can only be detected by a specific scanner."_

Danielle scowled. "Shy must have had those."

"_If we're on the right track, yes, that would make sense. That would explain one of the things in her blood. Your parent's scanner picked them up, but couldn't recognize what they were,"_ Tucker explained. "_It also explains why she didn't fight you guys long,"_ he mused.

"Yeah—wait, it does?" Danny asked, puzzled.

"_Yes. The technology's new, so it only works once, and only for a couple minutes. So it'd make sense they'd want to use it in case Shy didn't go with them willingly." _The Techno Geek turned away from the screen. "_Let me try something."_

Sam quirked a brow. "_How do you know all this?" _

"_Valarie keeps me updated."_

"_Of course_."

"_AHA!"_

The sound was met with rapt attention. "You got something?" Danielle asked hopefully.

"_Yes!"_ the Techno Geek replied excitedly. "_Elliot Haast. He used to work for Axion Labs six years ago. He was working on developing technology that…." _His voice trailed off and his eyes widened.

"What?"

"_I'd, uh, rather not say..."_

Danielle's hands slammed onto the desk, causing Danny to jump. "What is it?" she demanded.

Tucker gulped. "_He, uh, was working on making weapons that...incinerate ghosts on impact." _

Both Fentons instantly paled. Danielle stepped back, sinking onto the bed and covering her face with her hands.

Danny glanced over at her before turning back to the screen. "Where is this guy?"

Tucker pushed his glasses up on his nose and continued reading. "_He was fired when his experiments were deemed too dangerous. After that, he pretty much disappeared."_

Danielle groaned.

"_I said _pretty_ much."_

"So you have more," Danny pressed.

"_The fact that you're even asking wounds me_."

Sam rolled her eyes.

"_Mr. Haast's is currently located in the north eastern part of Arizona, near the border of Colorado. And,"_ he paused dramatically, "_He owns and runs an accounting business on the outskirts of a small town called Willow Springs."_

Danielle shot up from the bed as Danny whooped. "You're a genius Tucker!"

"_I have my ways."_

"C'mon, let's go!" Danielle exclaimed, darting towards the door.

"Whoa, wait!" Danny jumped up and blocked the door. "We can't just leave! We' have to wake Mom and Dad and then we can-"

Danielle's eyes narrowed and she grabbed fistfuls of his shirt. Danny choked as she yanked his head down. "Write. Them. A note," she growled. Shoving him aside, she stormed out of the room. "Hurry up!"

The trio blinked.

Tucker gave a low whistle. "_Geez, dude. Your parents must sleep like rocks."_

Danny ran a hand through his hair. "Pick you guys up in a few?"

Sam nodded and Tucker started to give a thumbs up when he paused. "Wait, we flying?"

Sam and Danny exchanged a quick glance. "It's faster," the black haired boy replied slowly.

Tucker sighed. "I'll get my coat..."

* * *

_Author's Notes_

_Okay, okay. I know that was a cheap way to...not involve Jack and Maddie. I'm sorry._

_But the Danielle part was intended. Keep in mind here, Danielle's used to being by herself, or for the past few years, it just being her and Shy. She's not accustomed to the idea of parents, and being that her first parental unit was Vlad...well, we all know how that ended._

_She will warm up to Jack and Maddie over time, though, don't worry._

_Now, onto Tucker. Of _course_ he's using a more advanced searching method then Google, but heck if Danielle knows what its called (heck if I know what its called). Also, how'd he get that information?...It's _Tuck. Er._ Need I say more? (fine fine, it will be revealed in a later story)_

_And the flashback at the beginning. Remember that. It will come up again in the future. (might be the _far_ future, but it will come up again)_


	15. Erebos Laboratories

_**AU:**__ Okay, I have to apologize for the following chapter...or rather, lack of chapter. This is the reason the rest of the story has not been finished sooner. What would have been this chapter kept giving me trouble. The first version I wrote was okay, but when I started proof reading it, I started hating it. Everything just felt wrong, so I scrapped it and tried again. And again. And again. _

_But no matter what I wrote, I hated it. And I didn't want to just throw something together to get past it, so I went on to proof read and finish the last chapters, thinking a break would help. _

_It didn't._

_I came back to that chapter, it was the only one left, and...nothing. I just hated any idea I came up for it. Everything just felt _wrong.

_In the end, I gave up. I just couldn't write anything I liked and I wanted to get this story done before I moved, which wasn't happening at this rate, so I threw up my hands and said "Screw it"._

_-shame- I'm sorry. I really am, but I'm just fed up with this chapter._

_So, guys, we've skipped a chapter here. There's a summary below of what would have happened in it, so you're not missing anything. It's just, not in chapter format._

* * *

_After leaving a note and picking up Sam and Tuck, the group heads out to Willow Springs, Arizona. They find Haast's accounting business, but it's closed. The Phantoms phase through and take a quick look around, but find nothing suspicious at first. However, when Danielle tries phasing through the basement floor, she finds she can't._

_Using his Techno Geek skills, Tucker reveals there is an anti-ghost shield keeping them out. He notes it's a strange one though, as it seems to keep ghosts from getting in or out. Hacking into the system, Tucker brings the shield down long enough for the group to get through._

_They discover an underground laboratory. Turning themselves invisible, they start looking for Shy._

* * *

Danielle paused, peering into the window of the door. The lights were off in the room, but she could make out a rectangular shape in the center.

Just as she was about to phase through the door, it slid open. The teens jumped as it hissed, allowing light to pour into the room.

Danny frowned, not liking it, and was about to grab Danielle's arm when she gasped and darted in, dragging Tucker with her. Without much choice, Danny and Sam followed, and the door shut behind them, casting the room in darkness once more.

Danny's hand glowed green and he held it aloft, bathing the room in a dim light. Tucker stood in the center of the room beside something, visible now, as Danielle had let go of him. The older teens looked around for the younger halfa, and spotted her in the back corner, kneeling in front of something.

Immediately realizing what it was, the three ran over, Danny releasing Sam's arm as he dropped to the floor beside his clone.

A set of thick chains were strapped to the wall, glowing dimly with an eerie light, confirming that they were created as restraints for the paranormal. At the end of the chains, her clothes torn and splattered with ectoplasm, was Soul.

Her knees were drawn up to her chest and her arms covered her head. Upon hearing footsteps, she had flattened herself against the wall, refusing to look up.

"Shy," Danielle said softly, catching the girl's attention.

Slowly, Soul raised her head. The older teens recoiled and Danielle gasped. Long, deep, angry scratches covered the girls face. Some looked fresh, while others looked like they had healed and been reopened numerous times. Similar marks covered her arms, but along with these there were ugly burns, looking like they had never been given the chance to heal properly.

Danielle wrapped her arms around her sister and held her tightly. Her green eyes gleamed with fury, but softened when Soul started shaking. The chains didn't allow her to return the gesture.

Forcing the urge to blow the building up right there, Danny turned his attention to the chains. He fired an experimental ghost ray, which did nothing, not that he'd been expecting it to. Frowning, he tried an ice ray, and the chain froze over. Another ghost ray and the chain snapped in half, freeing one of Soul's arms.

Quickly, he did the same to the other, and Soul slumped forward. "Can you stand?" he asked.

She tried, but couldn't even get to her feet before she dropped like a rock. Danielle looped an arm over her shoulder and let Soul lean on her for support.

"Now let's get out off—"

_Sssssss._

Five heads jerked up as the door slid open, light flooding into the room and causing two of the teens to squint. A figure stood in the door, a cold look in his eyes as he stepped inside. Four men, each carrying a plasma gun, came into the room behind him, standing in front of the door and aiming their weapons at the teenagers.

"And where, do you think you're going?"

Danielle growled, shifting her body so she blocked Soul. Danny stepped forward, pushing Sam and Tucker behind him. "You must be Haast," he said coldly, his tone dangerously low.

"And you must be Phantom. Now that we've established names, I ask again: Where do you think you're going?" the older man asked.

"We think we're leaving."

"Very well. But," Haast nodded his head at Soul, who cringed. "She stays."

"No deal!" Danielle immediately snapped.

"Then I'm afraid we have a problem."

Lights flickered as the men with guns charged their lasers, the weapons flashing brightly.

"You see, that girl is a very important experiment. We've already lost precious amounts of time when we lost her before, so to lose her again would be devastating to our work," Haast explained.

"This isn't work, it's torture," Danny growled.

"Maybe to you, but our weapons will benefit humans. We are creating weapons that will rid our world of ghosts. Permanently," Haast replied, a cruel grin sliding across his face.

As the man spoke, Danny discreetly moved one hand behind his back. Sam noticed the movement and quickly spoke up. "If you're making weapons to destroy all ghosts, why are you so determined to test them on Soul? Why not use any other old ghost? You obviously have access to them."

Haast quirked a brow slightly, then waved his hand. "We must make sure our weapons work on all ghosts, and for one reason or another, this girl has yet to be affected by them."

"Affected? _Affected?"_ Danielle screeched, eyes blazing with rage. "She's covered in blood and can't stand! How do you call that not affected?"

"All other ghosts we have tested on, melt, for lack of a better word, once the weapon hits them. She hasn't."

Danny's eyes narrowed. "On my say, dive," he hissed out of the corner of his mouth. Danielle cast him a brief glance that went unnoticed by Haast and the guards.

"Now," Haast continued, moving forward. Soul tensed and Danielle's eyes flashed dangerously. "If you don't mind handing over our experiment."

"GO!" Danny shouted and thrust his arm at the floor. A blast of energy shot from his hand in front of the teens and exploded. Pieces of concrete and metal flew everywhere as dust filled the air, a large gaping hole in the metallic floor.

Danny seized Sam and Tucker by their wrists and flew through the hole, Danielle right behind him with Soul.

The room below was vastly different from the small room Soul had been locked in. It was large, white, and filled with screens and different machines. Again, Sam and Tucker had to squint in the bright light for their eyes to adjust.

"How'd you know that'd work?" Tucker yelped, clutching his hat with the hand that wasn't holding Danny's arm in a vice grip.

"I didn't," Danny replied. "Got lucky for once."

"Thank God," Sam muttered. She too was clutching Danny's arm as she dangled in the air.

"Yeah, but now how do we get out of here?" Danielle asked, looking around. "I don't see any doors, unless you want to make some more."

"I'd rather not, since that'd lead them right to us," Danny said.

"Oh yeah, because blasting a hole in the floor and alerting the entire facility won't lead them to us at all," Tucker said sarcastically.

Danny purposely let his grip slip, making the Techno Geek squeak and tighten his hold on Danny's arm. Sam coughed on a laugh.

"Haha," the dark skinned teen replied dryly, glaring up at his best friend.

"There's got to be a door or something around here," Danielle muttered. "They have to get in here somehow."

As if to answer her question, a black rectangle appeared below them on the wall and guards poured into the room, turning their guns on the teenagers. A siren started wailing and the lights turned from white to flashing red.

"Crap," Danny scowled as the men started firing. The lasers flew by the teens as the Phantoms did their best to dodge.

A blast skimmed by Sam's boot, leaving a black streak. The Goth girl growled and maneuvered her hands, with some difficulty, around so she could use one finger to press the button on her wrist blaster.

The thin green beam shot towards the guards, hitting one of them on the hand and causing him to drop his gun.

Tucker quickly did the same, only his aim was off and the beam from his wrist blaster ricocheted off the floor and hit the wall. The Techno Geek was just about to groan in frustration when the wall flashed grey and revealed a door.

"Nice one, Tuck!" Danielle exclaimed as she flew towards the exit. Danny followed her, the blasts from the guns following them. Weaving in between shots, the Phantoms made it through the door seconds before it shut.

The hallway had a high ceiling, making it easier for the Phantoms to fly through. Doors opened and people in labcoats stuck their heads out, only to be blown back as the halfa's tore down the corridor.

Suddenly, the teens were in another brightly lit room, this one slightly smaller than the last. Danielle groaned. "It's a giant maze! How are we supposed to get out of here?"

"You don't."

Five pairs of eyes whipped around to see Haast standing in the corner, arms folded behind his back as he smirked and stepped forward. "You always have been rash when it comes to planning, little badger."

Danny froze. Only one person had ever called him "little badger"...

"_Plasmius_?"


	16. Shadow

_Author Notes must be read. Much confusion will result if ignored._

* * *

"What?"

Sam, Tucker, and Danielle stared at Danny like he'd lost his mind, but he only stared in shock at the older man.

Haast grinned evilly as his body suddenly glowed, surrounded by a strange aura. The teenagers stared, slowly lowering to the floor as they looked on in shock as the man's body crumpled to the floor.

A form four out of five of them knew well now floated before them, red eyes gleaming maliciously.

Vlad Masters, also known as the halfa Vlad Plasmius.

"Weren't expecting to see me again, were you Daniel?" the vampire ghost chuckled darkly.

The younger halfa stared. He'd last seen this man on a tv screen in space, and he'd vanished after that, presumably lost in space. Yet here he was, standing before him, that same infuriatingly smug look on his face...but there was something else, Danny noticed. Something about the man was...off.

Recovering from his shock, Danny growled angrily. "What are you doing here?"

"I already told you, dear boy."

"Yeah right! Like you really want to wipe ghosts off the planet!" Danny snapped. "What do you really want?"

Vlad's eyes narrowed, then slowly turned on the black haired girl who was leaning on Danielle. Soul cringed under his gaze.

Danielle moved, partially blocking Soul from view. Her eyes flashed dangerously. "What do you want with Soul?" she hissed.

Vlad's smirk was cold. "Why, the same reason I wanted you and Daniel."

Danny blinked, his hateful gaze turning confused for a moment. Danielle's didn't waver as she glared at the older halfa.

"Daniel, after you refused to join me, and then Danielle betrayed me, did you expect me to give up that easily?" Vlad said.

"I had hoped," the younger halfa muttered.

Vlad ignored him. "I needed a successor, someone to pass my skills onto. Of course, with my lab destroyed because of you, I couldn't continue trying to create a clone. That obviously didn't work before, anyway." He glanced pointedly at Danielle, who scowled darkly.

"So I began searching. For the perfect prodigy, someone to take my place," he paused and his lips curved into a sly grin. "Imagine my surprise when I found the perfect candidate on a business trip."

Soul blinked, looking confused and wincing when Vlad's gaze turned on her. Danielle snarled in warning.

"Yes, Shyann Sora Haynes. Smart, quick, and clever, she was the perfect choice. Of course, there was one problem. She was human." Vlad chuckled darkly. "So, I set some wheels in motion."

Danny felt his stomach clench uneasily as he realized where this was going. By the looks on their faces, Sam and Tucker did as well.

"After you destroyed my lab, I had to find somewhere else to carry out my plans. I managed to find this place," he spread his arms out, "Erebos Laboratories. A lab devoted to creating ghost weaponry. Run by Elliot Haast. Taking over was simple, really. I only had to overshadow Haast, and then, alter, the experiments a little."

"What do you mean, alter?" Danny asked slowly.

Vlad waved a hand idly. "I merely switched the weapons whenever they tested on Shyann. That way she didn't melt like the other ghosts."

"What about the chemical? Did you put that in her to?" Danielle demanded.

"Ah yes. That was a mistake. The chemical was supposed to make her resistant to ghost weapons. Obviously, it backfired."

"And the nanobots?" Tucker questioned.

"Specifically created with ghost technology so they can only be identified with special machines. They were to be used as a last resort in case Shyann ever got out of hand." Vlad replied smugly.

Danielle's fists clenched at her sides as she resisted the urge to wipe that look off his face. "What else did you do?" she demanded sharply.

Vlad gave a quiet chuckle. "Like I said, I set some wheels in motion. I still had one case of the ecto-acne gas I used on your friends, Daniel,"

Three gazes hardened as they glared at him. He ignored them.

"so I exposed Shyann to some. Her parents took their poor daughter to many doctors, but none of them knew what was wrong with her. Then they, happen, to receive a newsletter about specialists in Arizona. Desperate, they took their daughter down. Unfortunately, they were driven off the road by a drunk driver and went into the river, where the parents tragically drowned. The girl was saved and brought to the specialists, who were able to cure her of her sickness, but sadly not save her." He paused. "Not entirely, anyway."

The whole time Vlad was speaking, Soul had inched out from behind Danielle. Her eyes were wide and she had turned very pale.

Vlad smirked. "My dear girl, you honestly thought you had drowned? No, the scientists managed to save you. Then Haast...I mean, I, ordered some, tests, to be done. The tests were more dramatic than Daniel's accident which gave him his powers, but not enough to kill you. You are not a halfa, simply more ghost then human. One eighth human, really." He paused and added, as if an afterthought. "It's amazing what some people will do for money, wouldn't you agree?"

Danny and Sam stared at Vlad with shocked disgust. Tucker looked like he was going to be sick, and Danielle looked murderous.

Soul had gone rigid.

"After that, they continued to run tests on you, like they would any normal ghost. I switched the weapons whenever they ran those tests, to ensure you didn't melt. I then watched and waited for your powers to fully develop." His eyes narrowed and he frowned. "I would have taken you away and mentored you, once your powers were fully awakened, but then the Disasteroid incident happened, and I was forced to overshadow Haast in order to be on earth at all. Of course, you had disappeared when I got back, so I had to hire Rinkhals to fetch you."

"You sick...twisted...fruit-loop," Danny growled each hate filled word out. "You killed a little girl's parents, nearly killed her, all so you could have a human ghost apprentice?"

"Why of course," Vlad replied smoothly. "Haven't you noticed, Daniel? Your ghost sense does not go off around me, or Shyann. Being part human allows us to blend and not be detected by ghosts. My successor needed to be able to blend in among people. A ghost cannot do that."

"You're insane!" Danielle spat furiously.

Vlad ignored the female halfa and looked directly at Soul. The girl hadn't moved an inch while he'd been speaking. She hadn't even blinked. She'd just stood there, frozen with an expression of blank shock.

Then, as red eyes met with amber, something snapped.

Danielle saw it in her eyes. Her anger vanished as she reached for her twin, a second too late.

_**BANG! **_

An explosion of white sent Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Danielle flying backwards across the room. There was a cracking sound, and dust filled the room, forcing the four teens to squint in order to see.

Danielle coughed and rose to one knee, waving in front of her to clear the dust away. She gasped and quickly looked around.

A giant, gaping hole was in the wall. And the wall after that. And the wall after that.

The pattern repeated through at least a dozen walls.

With the sounds of energy blasts and screams echoing through them.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker saw Danielle's black and white form fly towards the hole, the wind created from her take off clearing away the remaining dust that filled the air.

Danny groggily shook his head when Sam grabbed his arm and pointed wordlessly at the holes in the walls.

His eyes widened. "Oh no..."

He took off, Sam and Tucker scrambling after him. When they reached the last hole, they saw the blast had shot straight through into one of the large white laboratories. People ran screaming, opening doors and fleeing the room as they tried to avoid being hit or crushed. The siren was wailing and the room was flashing with red light.

Soul was in the center of the room, flying in circles and shooting blast after blast at Vlad. The older halfa had a purple shield raised and was easily holding the ghost girls attacks off.

Or so it appeared.

Soul's attacks were rapid and fierce. She wasn't even aiming, she was just throwing beam after beam of energy at him. Any attack that missed exploded some part of the lab below them. Computer screens blew up, sending glass everywhere. Scanners and other tools flew into each other or the wall and shattered into tiny pieces.

The girl had completely forgotten about her injuries. How exhausted and weak she had been only moments before.

She was fighting on pure adrenaline.

Her eyes blazed with hateful rage as she tossed a ghost bomb at Vlad's shield. To the others surprise, the shield flickered for a moment and Vlad grimaced.

But Soul didn't stop there. Her fists glowed white and she began shooting her ghost ray at close range. The blasts pounded onto the shield with so much force that Vlad was pushed closer and closer to the ground. When he was an inch or two from touching the floor, Soul raised her hands above her head. A large orb of white light appeared in them, and she threw it at the older hybrid.

The ghost bomb exploded the second it touched the shield, cloaking the room in dust for a brief moment before it was whirled out of the way by a gust of wind.

There was now a large crater in the floor, and Vlad staggered to his feet in the center of it. Soul flew towards him. There was a sickening crack as her glowing fist connected with the older hybrid's jaw, sending him stumbling back.

Soul's eyes glowed and a loud groaning sound filled the room as two large panels peeled away from the ceiling. They floated on either side of Vlad, both pieces easily twice the size of the hybrid.

Soul swung her hands and the panels slammed together. The lights that had been on the panels shattered, glass raining down over the surrounding floor.

Vlad emerged from in between the panels, having turned intangible the second before they had hit him. His eyes glowed and two beams of purple shot at the ghost girl, hitting her in the chest and sending her flying back a few feet. The panels dropped to the floor and caused the room to shake.

The attack only seemed to fuel Soul's rage. Her fists aglow, she sped forward and rammed into Vlad's chest, smashing him into the wall and several pieces of equipment. Not giving the older hybrid a chance to recover, Soul started pummeling him with ghost rays.

Vlad countered with his own ghost rays, and purple and white collided in midair. His beams started overtaking hers, but the ghost girl refused to relinquish her attack. Spinning to the left, she let the purple rays fly by her and blow a hole in the wall before turning and flying straight at the older hybrid.

Vlad's body flashed, and suddenly there were four of him. The four illusions surrounded Soul and each fired a ghost ray at her. She screamed in pain, her body smoking from the attack.

Her eyes flashed dangerously and her entire body began to glow as an orb of white light surrounded her. With a flash, light exploded and shot out in every direction, blasting through the walls, floor, and ceiling. The three Vlad copies disappeared and the real Vlad was thrown into the wall.

Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Danielle shielded their eyes from the light. When the light faded, Soul floated a few feet from Vlad. White wisps of smoke rose from her body and she was breathing heavily as she glared venomously at Vlad's limp form as it fell to the floor.

But she wasn't done.

With a snarl, Soul grabbed the older hybrid by the throat, slamming him back against the wall. Her eyes were lit up with pure rage as she drew an arm back and it began to glow as light swirled in a circle, creating an orb in her hand.

Danielle couldn't take it anymore. Seeing her sister's face so contort with pain and anger, she was jolted from her spot on the floor as she flew towards her.

The female halfa rammed into the ghost girl's side, sending her flying away from Vlad. Stumbling back, Soul forced Danielle off and whipped around to face her.

Danielle spread her arms out to block her from flying off right away. "Shy, don't do this," she pleaded, her voice tight. "It's not you. Yes, he deserves it and so much worse, but you're not like this. You're not like _him_."

Soul's gaze flickered for a brief moment, then snapped back to a hateful snarl. Blinded by rage, she flew past Danielle, pushing the female halfa aside and charging at Vlad, who had just started to get up.

Vlad saw her coming and shot a ghost ray at her, but it only delayed her for a minute before she collided with him. Grabbing hold of his arm, Soul threw him to the floor. The room shook from the force and three cracks split across the floor from where the older hybrid's body connected with the tiles.

Soul clenched her fists and they glowed as she drew them back, preparing to strike.

"Shy, no!" Danielle cried, darting forward and grabbing one of her twins' arms in an attempt to hold it back. But Soul's other hand sped towards Vlad's unmoving head.

It jerked to a stop inches from it.

Danny held her calmly by the wrist, his expression solemn as he turned his green gaze on her fury lit amber one.

"Danielle's right, Shy," he murmured quietly. "You're not a killer." When Soul's arm tensed in his grip, he added gently. "Would your parents want you to become a murderer?"

She froze.

Sam and Tucker held their breaths. Danielle looked pleadingly at her sister. Danny's gaze remained calm.

Silence dragged on as Soul's arms remained tense and ready to strike.

Then, they relaxed.

Danny released his hold as Soul's arms slowly lowered and her expression changed from rage to horror as she looked down at Vlad's battered body.

The girl stared at her hands and they began to shake as the realization of what she'd been about to do hit her. Her breathing was ragged as her legs buckled and she collapsed to the floor, covering her face with her hands as she began to sob uncontrollably.

Danielle dropped to the floor beside her and hugged her, holding her tightly as the girl's body shook with sobs.

Sam and Tucker sighed with relief, and Danny knelt down beside his younger cousins, placing a comforting hand on Soul's head.

* * *

**_Authors Notes READ_**

_And the big reveal!...unless you already figured it out. I'm not known for subtly._

_Yes Vlad. Vladdy Vlad Vlado. This will probaly upset any Vlad fans that read this, so let me start off by saying I DON'T hate him. Well, I do, but it's that love/hate you have for villains._

_Vlad was a good villain. I liked him as a villain for the first two seasons. And then season three...well, yeah. He kinda, lost that villainous charm. He didn't strike me as very threatening/cunning/devious any more. The only episode he was an actual villainly was _D-Stabilized_, and even then he didn't seem _as_ evil as he'd been in the first two seasons._

_Sooooo I started thinking. What if this wasn't simply because of poor writing? What would cause him such a change of character?_

_Simple. He went insane. I mean totally, bat**** nuts. He wasn't in his right mind and thus began doing stupid things, having wild ideas that were doomed to fail while trying to desperately recover what he had lost._

_Now, what had he lost?_

_What (according to episode listings) was the last episode Vlad was a good villain in?_

Kindred Spirits

_That episode, in my personal opinion, was when we saw Vlad as a real villain. The end of that episode, he was fricking scary. It is by far my favorite villain moment for him, because he looked like he was actually going to _kill_ Danny and Danielle. _

_The loss of his "perfect son" caused something in him to snap, and thus started the perilous spiral down into insanity. _

_In PP, when his life came crashing down around him, any remains of sanity he had vanished. (seriously, when you are pretty much banned from your own planet, you do not sit in space and mope. No. Just no.)_

_Despite having gone insane, Vlad knew he had to cover the tracks of his "deeds"._

_And as we all know, that is easy to do when you have money and ghost powers. After the Haynes death, which was never reported, their car and bodies never found (because they were disposed of "properly"), the Haynes house was sold and anyone who knew them assumed they had moved. They just didn't know where._

_The "drunk driver"? Yeah, that was one of Haast/Vlad's men. He was under orders and completely sober. (and he didn't go off the road)_

_Anyone who got suspicious of the experimentation done on Shy was swiftly and discreetly "fired"._

_Since the Disasteroid is made of...anti-ghost material (forgot the official name), I think it would cause some major disruption with ghost technology when it passed through the Earth, regardless of being intangible (cause you can still be affected by sound/radio/whatever waves while intangible. Danny could still hear, couldn't he?). Why they didn't think of this when they made the episode, I don't know, but whatever. When the Disateroid passed through Earth, the machines at Erebos Labs went haywire, allowing Shy to escape into a ghost portal the labs had acquired (aka, how they got all those ghosts. it would have been shown in that scrapped chapter...)._

_Shy fighting Vlad and winning? What?...__Yeah, remember he's been overshadowing someone for four years. That's draining right there, and he hasn't exactly been keeping his fighting skills in check. So he's pretty weak here. If he'd been at full strength, or even half, Shy would have gotten tossed around like a rag doll (just like Danny usually was), even with her rage fueling her._

___1/8 human. I've seen 1/4 ghost DP fan characters, but have yet to see it applied in reverse. I see no reason why it can't, thus, Shy is not human enough to be consider a halfa, but not a pure ghost either._

___Last but not least, Danielle will drop the "Soul" name in extreme situations such as this._


	17. Better

Since all of the scientists and guards had fled the building during Soul's rampage, Haast and Vlad were the only ones left that needed to be taken care of. The lab itself was mostly destroyed, with only a few machines still blinking their lights.

Tucker called a hospital for Haast, giving them the address of a gas station the group had passed on their way (Danny said they'd drop him off there). Danny, meanwhile, decided what to do with Vlad (Danielle suggested strapping him to a rocket and sending him into space).

Danny disagreed. "We'll leave him here," he said quietly. Really, there was nothing else they could do. If they called the police, they'd have to explain why Vlad needed to be arrested. Not to mention, Vlad could bust himself out easily. There was also the fact that Vlad Master's had been missing for the past few years. Sending him into the ghost zone was no good, he'd just find a way out of there to.

So, they left the older halfa amongst the remains of the lab.

The building above hadn't suffered from the destruction below in the slightest, and appeared as normal as ever when the group of teenagers left. The sun was just starting to rise as they stepped outside.

While Danny flew Haast to the gas station Tucker had directed the ambulance to, the others started walking down the road away from the now deserted building. Danielle had changed back to her normal appearance, as had Soul, though the latter had done so out of exhaustion.

Shortly after they had exited the building, with Danny and Tucker dragging Vlad and Haast's limp forms, the adrenaline rush she had crashed and the girl collapsed from exhaustion. Luckily, she had been leaning against Danielle, who caught her before she fell to the ground. The white ring appeared around Soul's body and she changed back to Shy.

She'd been out cold since.

Tucker now carried the younger girl on his back as they made their way down the road. Sam led the way, and Danielle stayed beside the dark skinned teen and her twin.

They met Danny at the gas station. The ghost boy had changed back to his normal form as well, and he was sitting at a table underneath a tree outside the small station.

With Danny's help, Tucker gently set Shy down so she was leaning against the trees trunk. Danielle sat down next to her, and soon the two girls were both out like a light.

Sam went inside and bought three bottles of water. When she came back, Danny and Tucker were sitting at the table. She gave them each a bottle as she sat down beside Danny. The jet haired boy informed them that after the ambulance had taken Haast, he had called his parents to come get them. The trio agreed this was for the best, as the rescue mission had indeed left them all rather drained and weary.

It was late afternoon and the sun was high in the sky by the time the Fenton RV rolled into the nearly deserted gas station. Maddie jumped from the vehicle before Jack parked, and ran over to the group. Sam leaned across the table and poked Tucker, who had nodded off a couple hours ago. The Techno Geek snorted and raised his head groggily.

Danny got up from the table and his mother threw her arms around him, nearly choking him. Pulling back, she immediately began scolding them for taking off and only leaving a note as to where they were going. Danny grimaced sheepishly, knowing he deserved the lecture.

Jack joined them and Danny yelped as he was embraced in another bone crushing hug.

While Tucker yawned and tiredly rubbed his eyes, shooting Sam a grumpy look, the Goth girl went over to wake the twins.

Gently, Sam shook Danielle's shoulder. Baby blue eyes blinked sleepily and looked at the older girl with a bleary, confused look.

Maddie joined Sam, kneeling down beside her nieces. The woman's eyes widened when she saw the wounds on Shy's face, one hand covering her mouth to muffle a gasp.

"She's okay," Sam quickly assured her. "Just exhausted."

Helping Danielle to her feet, Sam led the black haired girl to the RV while Danny carried an unconscious Shy. Jack went back to the RV to open the doors, and the teens piled in. Danielle first, scooting over as far as she could on the seat. Danny carefully placed Shy next to her and hopped in next. Then Sam got in, with Tucker climbing in last.

They hadn't even pulled out of the gas station before the teens fell asleep.

* * *

Danielle blinked.

Sun streamed in through the large window, and a quick glance at the clock told her it was morning. The problem was, she remembered crawling into bed yesterday upon coming home, but she wasn't in bed now.

She was in a chair in the living room.

Sitting up, the girl rubbed her eyes and frowned, casting a quick glance around the room. Sam was curled up on the couch, the blanket she was curled up in rising and falling with her breathing. She and Tucker had stayed the night, the boys crashing in Danny's room while Sam claimed the couch.

With a yawn, Danielle stood up and stretched her arms over her head. Maybe she had sleepwalked or simply didn't remember coming down. Shrugging it off, she made her way to the stairs.

Snores from behind a closed door told her the boys were still asleep, and she bet Jack and Maddie were as well. The door to her own room was shut, so she assumed Shy was still sleeping, which didn't surprise her. Quietly as not to wake anyone, Danielle gently turned the doorknob.

It didn't move.

Frowning, she tried again, jiggling it to see if it was stuck. Nothing. The door refused to budge. She tried leaning against it, but that didn't do anything either.

Danielle sighed heavily, giving up and going intangible. She started to step through the door, when she was suddenly forced back.

With a startled yelp, the young halfa stumbled back and fell on the floor. Shaking her head, she shot back to her feet and tried again, only to be thwarted once more.

There was only one thing she could think of that could be keeping her from phasing through.

"Shy!" she whispered loudly, still trying to be quiet. "Lower the shield, will ya?"

Nothing. Danielle tried phasing throw, but again was stopped, this time so forcefully she was thrown back.

"Ow," she groaned, rubbing the spot where her head had hit the invisible force field. "Come on, Shy. Let me in," she said, knocking on the door.

No response of any kind.

"All right then," the black haired girl huffed. She phased through the floor, ending up back in the living room. Walking over to the center, which was beneath the girl's room, Danielle launched herself at the ceiling to phase through.

"OW!" she cried as she crashed headfirst into a barrier, dropping back to the floor with a thud.

Sam stirred on the sofa, sleepily dazed as she looked around. "Whas going on?" she mumbled.

Groaning and rubbing her head, Danielle pushed herself into a sitting position. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you."

The older girl blinked and yawned, swinging her legs over the side of the couch. She gave the female halfa a curious look. "Why're you on the floor?"

"Shy won't let me in the room."

Sam frowned slightly. "You try phasing?"

Danielle pointed at the bump on her head. "That's what I was doing."

"Window?"

"No, but I'm betting that'll be blocked by the shield to."

"Hm. Well, maybe give her a little time," Sam suggested.

Following on Sam's advice, Danielle stayed downstairs for the rest of the morning. The two girls fixed themselves breakfast and channel surfed until noon. That was when everyone else started getting up.

Maddie came first, bright eyed and cheerful as always. Jack and the boys came a bit later, mumbling "mornings" as they rummaged around the kitchen for food.

By one, the only person not up was Shy.

Munching on a piece of toast, Danielle took the stairs two at a time.

Same as before, the door was locked and the shield wouldn't let her in.

Confused by this shut in behavior, Danielle rapped on the door. "Hey Shy, you want something to eat?"

No answer.

"Shy?"

Again, there wasn't a response. Danielle's brow creased with worry as she raised her hand to knock, but was stopped when she heard someone coming up the stairs.

It was Danny.

He didn't ask what was going on, he didn't even seem surprised. He took one look at Danielle, poised to knock on the door to her own bedroom, and a look the girl had never seen before crossed his face.

It was a mixture of pity and something else. Sympathy maybe?

"Just leave her be for now," Danny said quietly. "She needs some time alone."

Danielle blinked but didn't ask how he knew this.

* * *

"Okay, it's been two days. How long am I supposed to wait before blasting a hole in the roof?"

"You'll do no such thing," Maddie's firm voice floated from the kitchen.

Danielle winced and turned back to Danny. The boy was sitting on the couch, half his attention on the girl, while the other half appeared to be on the documentary about space on tv.

Danielle sat cross legged on the couch beside him, arms folded across her chest as her question hung in the air between them.

Two days had passed since they had rescued Shy from Vlad, and the girl hadn't come out of the bedroom or let anyone in. Danielle had listened to Danny and left her alone, but now she was starting to seriously worry. It wasn't like Shy to lock herself away and refuse to talk to anyone. The fact that she was using a shield to ensure no one got in the room only increased her concern.

Danny's eyes flickered to the ceiling for a moment. Tossing the remote in his cousin's lap, the boy got up from the couch.

"Let me talk to her," he said when Danielle made a move to follow him. She sank back against the couch, but her gaze followed him upstairs instead of images on tv.

Danny got to the girls room and quietly knocked. "Shy, we need to talk."

Nothing.

"Please? Everyone else is really worried about you."

Minutes passed, and then there was the faintest click as the door unlocked. Pushing it open, Danny stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

Shy sat on her bed, back against the headboard and knees drawn to her chest. Her arms covered her head, peach colored hair hanging loose around her shoulders. Most of the wounds on her arms had healed, only a burn or two remained.

The halfa sat down on the bed, but the girl didn't raise her head or acknowledge him. They sat in silence for a few moments, before Danny spoke.

"I know what it's like."

Shy's head snapped up. Her face was pale and the scratches had yet to heal completely. Faint shadows were under her eyes, which reflected her inner anguish.

She glared at him and it was clear she didn't believe him as she snatched the notebook sitting on the nightstand and scribbled aggressively on it. She thrust it at him with such force he nearly fell over.

**I knew what was going on when those things inside me took over! I had no control over my body, but I was conscious of what was happening! I almost killed Danielle, and would have done the same to you if they'd told me to! And then on my own free will I nearly killed a man! I **_**wanted**_** to kill him! If you hadn't stopped me, I would have! I'm no better than Vlad! **

**I can't look at myself anymore. I don't see me, I see a monster. And it scares me! My own reflection **_**scares**_** me! How can you say you know what it's like? Have **_**you**_** ever looked at your own reflection and been **_**afraid**_** of what you see?**

"Yes."

Shy blinked, her glare vanishing as she stared at him.

Danny placed the notebook down and looked at the wall, his expression solemn. "It was before Danielle was created," he explained quietly. "This man, Freakshow, he was jealous of ghosts and their powers. He wanted them, but since he couldn't he used a staff to hypnotize them. Any ghost that looked at it fell under his control and was forced to do whatever he commanded." He paused and sighed heavily. "He came to Amity under the guise of a traveling circus. I saw the staff and...became one of his puppets," he spat the words out bitterly.

"I robbed banks and attacked the police with the others. The entire time I knew, in the back of my mind, what I was doing was wrong, but I didn't care." Another pause, and he seemed hesitant to go on, but forced himself to. "In the end Sam and Tucker saved me, but Freakshow commanded me to...'get rid of them'. I almost did, and if they hadn't brought me back to my senses...they wouldn't be here today. I would have done it. I know I would have."

"After it was over, I couldn't shake the thought that I had tried to _kill_ my best friends. The nightmares lasted for months and every time I saw my reflection I wanted to smash it. I hated myself for even considering doing such a thing, even if it had been against my will."

He turned to her, and Shy stared at him guiltily. "I still have those nightmares sometimes. Sam and Tucker know. I never told them, they just knew." Danny smiled a little before continuing, his face serious once more. "They've forgiven me for what happened, but I can't forgive myself. I never will. But I've learned to live with it."

"I don't blame you Shy, and Danielle defiantly doesn't. I don't know if you'll ever be able to forgive yourself, that's for you to decide, but you can't let it control you. You have to learn to live with it, whether you forgive yourself or not." Blue eyes darkened for a moment as he continued. "As for Vlad...Shy, believe me, no one would have held that against you after what he did. What matters is you _didn't _kill him. You could have easily pushed me away and finished him, but you _didn't._ You proved you're better then Vlad by a longshot, Shy." He smiled softly. "I bet your parents would be proud."

The girl's eyes watered. Letting out a choked sob, she launched herself forward, throwing her arms around him and clinging tightly as tears streamed down her face.

Danny said nothing more. He gently wrapped her in a comforting embrace and let her cry.

* * *

_Authors Notes_

_Did I mention endings aren't one of my strong points? Especially emotional ones? No?...well, now ya know._

_Sure, the experimentation Shy underwent is going to haunt her, but not as much as the fact she almost killed. That's something she's never going to get over._

_And just because Danielle's not used to parents, doesn't mean she's not going to listen to them._

_Yes, Shy can manipulate her shields. It's one of her specialties. _


	18. Epilogue: Memorial

_4 months later_

"Yo, Shy, you up here?"

Periwinkle eyes looked up from their sketching as footsteps thundered in the hall. A second later, a mess of black hair poked their head in the door.

"Yup, you are. C'mon, I have something to show ya!"

Shy held up a hand, signaling her to wait a minute. Danielle waltzed into the room and plopped down on the bed, craning her neck to see what her twin was doing. Her peach haired twin made a few quick motions with her pencil before beaming with satisfaction. Turning the sketchbook around, she handed it over.

Danielle took it.

The drawing was of that of two people. A man with russet orange hair and blue eyes grinned. He had his arms wrapped around a woman, her blonde hair sleek and wavy as it framed her teal eyes.

There was no need to ask who they were.

"You finished it!" Danielle exclaimed as she looked up.

Shy nodded enthusiastically, eyes sparkling with joy.

Over the past couple of months, it had been discovered that Shy's memory loss was not permanent. She had, albeit slowly, started remembering things from before the accident. The memories were mostly small ones, but there had been one that had Shy bursting with joy.

Her parents faces.

Danielle handed the drawing back, and Shy carefully closed her sketchbook and placed it in the nightstand drawer. It would stay there until she could get it framed.

You had something to show me?

Danielle grinned and hopped up from the bed, grabbing her sister's hand. "Yup! It's a surprise and Danny's waiting in the truck to take us. Sam and Tuck are already there."

Shy frowned in confusion, but let herself be guided out of the house and into the blue truck. Danny smiled at her in the review mirror as Danielle pushed her into the backseat before jumping in next to her.

"Let's go!" she declared, and the truck pulled out onto the road.

The drive was only a few minutes, and Shy gave the two jet haired teens a curious look as they pulled onto a road she was unfamiliar with. She was about to ask where they were when Danielle suddenly covered her eyes.

"It's not a surprise if you see where we are," she stated in a matter-o-fact tone.

Extremely curious now, Shy fumbled a bit trying to get out of the truck with Danielle's hands blocking her vision. But she managed, and was steered in a direction and started walking.

"There they are," she heard Tucker's voice say, and a moment later she was told to stop. Danielle removed her hands, stepping back as Shy blinked.

Her mouth opened in a silent gasp.

They were in a cemetery, a small one by the looks of it, and standing in front of a large weeping willow. Sam and Tucker stood on either side of a white tombstone, and seeing the names engraved on it, Shy felt her throat tighten.

"_Angels have no philosophy but love." _

_William & Serina Haynes_

_Beloved Parents_

A budding purple flower had been planted in front of it, its silk petals brushing against the white surface.

Shy swallowed and looked at Danielle, pointing wordlessly at it.

Her sister smiled softly. "I thought they deserved a proper resting place, so I asked Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack. They paid for it and I found this place. It's not that far of a walk, really, so it seemed like the perfect spot."

Shy's eyes stung and her vision blurred as she covered her mouth, touched that the black haired girl had thought of this memorial for two people she'd never met.

"Aw, no. It wasn't supposed to make you cry," Danielle moaned, mistaking her watery eyes for sadness and looking thoroughly dismayed.

Smiling through her tears, Shy turned and flung her arms around her sister in silent gratitude.

* * *

_Final Author's Note _

_Okay, first off, cover-I mean, explaining, a little plot hol-uh, part, from an earlier chapter._

_Shy mentioned she'd never played sports and remembered a girl from her old school giving her a rough time for being mute. Then she says she has no memory from before her accident, only fuzzy images._

_Those fuzzy images are what she saw when remembering playing ball with kids in a park and a mean girl from school. However, the voices are distant and warped, and she wouldn't be able to tell you what any of the kids looked like, not even hair color, or what kind of ball they played with, or how big the park was. Heck, it could have been in a parking lot for all she knew. This goes the same with the mean girl. Remembers a warped voice mocking her in a building, but not what the girl looks like._

_Now, as stated, her amnesia is not permanent. She will regain most of her memories very slowly. In about a year, she will have the majority of her memories back._

_However, some memories are lost forever. The day of the accident, for example. Shy will never be able to remember that in full detail. A flash of lights and going into the river. That's all she's ever going to remember._

* * *

_I will be the first to admit it. This story is not one of my better works._

_At all._

_And for that I apologize. I know I've said that a few times already, but I cannot stress how sorry I am about the shortcuts and mistakes I've made with this story._

_This was my first official fanfiction. More then just a few pages on Word and longer then one chpter. And I was so excited that I did probably one of the worst things an author can do._

_I dove in headfirst without planning._

_-shameshameshameshame-_

_Really, I only had a very very very basic idea of how the story would play out. I wrote the first couple of chpters and posted them right away. Did a few more, still running high on this writing energy._

_When I started slowing down and re-reading what I'd posted...I found so, so many mistakes and things that bugged the crap out of me. Prime example? Chpt 8. That chpt hurts me -shudder-_

_Plotholes, unexplained things that could have easily been explained, among other things, all slapped me in the face._

_I really wanted to stop and scrap the whole thing. Just post a summery of what happened and continue on with the other stories I had already started on._

_But I also wanted to finish what I started._

_I did consider scrapping it and rewriting the whole thing, but my brain was already full steam ahead with the other stories and backtracking to the beginning did not sound very appealing. I most likely will go back at some point and re-write this entire story, but for now, I just really wanted to get it over with and move on._

_I'm sorry readers. You deserved my best, and I did not give it. Hopefully I can redeem myself with future works._


	19. Author Announcement: I'M ALIVE I SWEAR

I'm not sure what FFN's policy is on author notes anymore so hopefully this won't get me in trouble

I AM SO SORRY YOU GUYS.

I really didn't mean to leave you high and dry like that, honestly I swear. I had plans to work on stories after SP, but then school started and my nose has been to the grindstone ever since and I've just been stressed out and, ugh.

I'm sorry. I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry.

I've been working on stories for this series, I promise. I just haven't had any time to go through them and put them all together.

But summer is around the corner, _THANK GOD._

I don't know when it'll happen, but I promise to post _something_ in the next couple of months.

In the meantime, I have a DeviantArt ( orciawish deviantart com/) and a Tumblr ( orcia tumblr com/) and guys, please, feel free to come pester ask me questions or talk or whatever if you want because I just feel terrible for abandoning you guys like that.

I mean, 41 reviews? :_: Ohmygod, can I just hug you all? –sends air hugs–


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